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Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 68

We landed roughly on each other. Hongo was trying to NOT concentrate on his back pain. “Wataru, as soon as I disentangle myself from the rest of us,” I warned, “you better be the fastest Kamen Rider. Because if I catch up, may the multiverse have mercy on your soul for jinxing it!”

“Accursed mummy!” hissed Batman as he got Wyldstyle and Mikhail off of him. “Now he’s gonna get it!”

“Check it out!” called Tonje. “Mine carts!” There was a pair of mine carts sitting on their own respective rails. The doors to the mine were closed.

“We need them open,” I mused as I pointed to the doors. Wataru then tried to open them by force.

“Come on, don’t tell me you’re doubting yourself again!” snapped Kivat.

“No, I just need help opening the door!” Wataru managed to get out.

“Wataru, you’re going about it the wrong way,” called Hongo.

“Pardon?” asked Wataru.

“That vent over there,” explained Hongo as he pointed to what he was talking about, “has electronics that can open the doors. We just need to patch it up and shrink someone down to work with the electronics.”

“I’m the one good with rewiring things,” supplied Batman. “You just need to patch things up.”

“Bad news,” called Wyldstyle. While we were talking, she had gotten to a high shelf with a vent patch. “There’s only one patch.”

“Then whoever’s the giant,” suggested Batman, “needs to transfer the patch as I go.”

“What about that hanging bit?” asked Wataru.

“That will be sorted,” assured Hongo. “For now, Scale Keystone, activate! Lessen scale of Batman and Wataru! Enlarge scale of Wyldstyle!” Batman and Wataru shrunk while Wyldstyle grew. She grabbed the patch, ready to help Batman as needed.

“What happened?!” shrieked Wataru. “Why am I small?!”

“We need you under the dangling part of the vent,” directed Batman. Wataru then guessed.

“I’m just going to hold it up?” he asked as he went under the dangling part.

“Exactly,” confirmed Hongo. “Enlarge scale of Wataru!” Wataru grew and held the part in place while Wyldstyle transferred her patch when Batman needed it changed. After a while, everything was rewired and the doors unlocked.

“Well,” sighed Wyldstyle as Hongo got everyone back to their normal sizes, “I guess these carts are the only way out.”

“Then let’s not waste any more time,” declared Wataru. “Kivat, let’s go.” He held his hand to the air.

“All right!” cheered Kivat. “Let’s go!” He flew into Wataru’s hand and folded his wings. Wataru pressed a button in between the bat’s ears and the mouth opened. “Gabu!” (Bite!) called Kivat. Wataru then put Kivat’s fangs onto his hand, making stained glass patterns appear on his body while chains wrapped around his waist, forming a red belt with a hook in front and three whistle-like devices on each side. Wataru then showed Kivat in front of him.

“Henshin!” he announced. He then attached Kivat to the hook by his feet and let him swing down, making a deep bell sound. Quicksilver then formed around his body before bulking up and coloring itself. The suit was predominantly black with silver shoulder guards and a leg guard wrapped in chains. He had a red chest and red trim around his yellow, bat wing eyes.

“So, that’s Kiva,” I mused.

“Transforming may be a good idea,” suggested Hongo as he struck his pose. We followed suit by drawing our i.d. tags. “Rider…” began Hongo.

“Henshin!” we announced. We all transformed and then boarded the mine carts. We went down, down, down towards another area.

“The Scarab,” boasted a voice, “and its powers are MINE to control!”

“The mummy!” snarled Batman. “Quick! After him!”

“Looks like a dangerous game of bumper cars,” I mused. We kept bumping him, making him lose his grip on the explosives he was trying to light. He tried changing tracks frequently, but it was no good, he changed them too late. Finally, we went on a track that took us out of the mine and made us fly through the air onto a roller-coaster track. We went around the track a couple of times, but the ride we had made Kiva look a little sick, even under his helmet.

“Wataru, don’t you dare throw up!” warned Kivat.

“I’m trying!” mumbled Kiva. The mummy’s cart then left the track and crashed through a circus tent.

“This way!” called Batman. We all left the cart and went into the mummy’s tent. Kiva and I bounced on the trampoline all the way up to a trapeze swing. I grabbed onto the bar and Kiva grabbed my legs. We swung on it a few times before letting go and landing on the ground. Kiva and I felt something coming up our throats that was NOT going to be held back, so we dismissed our helmets and…I don’t need to paint you the picture.

“What took you so long?” asked Batman.

“Now I remember why I HATE roller-coasters!” I mumbled as our helmets came back.

“I don’t want to ride any more rides,” moaned Kiva. “I have an allergy to thrill rides.”

“You and me both,” I said as I patted Kiva’s shoulder. That was when creepy laughter rang through the tent and the mummy rose up from a hole.

“You were fools to think that mere mortals can stop me!” he boasted. “Witness the true power and might of the Diamond Scarab!”

“Fools?” I hissed. “I am no fool. I am a hero! Dai Super Charge!” My armor bulked up, then flew off to reveal… “Kamen Rider Vortex! Evil will ultimately bow to me!”

“Kamen Rider Gallop! My riding skills are unmatched!”

“Kamen Rider Swing! I’ll be taking your legs!”

“I am Gandalf the Grey! Prepare to see some fireworks!”

“I’m Wyldstyle! Time to think outside the box!”

“I’m Batman! The Dark Knight rises!”

“Kamen Rider Kiva! I will break the chains of fate!”

“I am the start of a group of warriors! I am Kamen Rider!”

“No, you’re dead!” declared the mummy. He used the Scarab to raise more mummies! “Rise, my warriors! Defend my honor!” ordered the mummy. Kiva punched one and it fell apart.

“They’re pretty weak!” called Kiva. “It’s the numbers that concern me.”

“Just keep at it!” I directed. I managed to touch Kiva and got his i.d. tag. “All right, let’s see what you’ve got!” I inserted the i.d. tag and selected Kiva’s normal appearance.

“Kiva Steel!” announced Vortoranii. The wardrobe change my appearance to that of Kiva’s and I started striking more mummies with my sword. Somehow, I wasn’t getting the usual power.

“What gives?!” I snapped.

“You need to use the Garuru Saber form!” explained Kiva. “Watch!” He pulled out a whistle from his right side with blue highlights and put it into Kivat’s mouth.

“Garuru Saber!” shouted Kivat as he blew into it. A high-pitched whistle rang out and some device came flying towards Kiva. It unfolded into a sword with a snarling wolf’s head on the hilt. Kiva grabbed it with his left hand and chains wrapped around his arm and shoulder before snapping to reveal a newer spiky shoulder pad and a blue arm. Chains wrapped around his chest before snapping and revealing a new blue chest. Kivat’s eyes flashed between red and blue before settling on blue. Kiva’s eyes went blue as well before he adopted an animalistic stance.

“Garuru Saber,” I repeated. “Got it!” I summoned the selection circle and changed forms again.

“Kiva Garuru Saber Steel!” announced Vortoranii as the wardrobe closed on me. The whistle that was part of changing into that form sounded and my arm and eyes changed color. After we took care of the other mummies, the main one summoned a giant mechanical scarab!

“RUN!” I shouted as we got out of the way.

“I’ve got an idea!” called Batman. “Shift Keystone, activate! Cyan, on the platform above the target board! Magenta, on the flaming platform! Yellow, on the icy platform! Shift! Kiva! Cyan!” Kiva was sucked into the portal and ended up on the platform. The mummy got his scarab to charge, but it resulted in the scarab knocking itself silly. Kiva then held up another whistle with purple highlights and put it into Kivat’s mouth.

“Dogga Hammer!” announced Kivat as a loud, deep horn blasted. A large purple hammer appeared and unfolded. The head of the hammer looked like a large purple fist and was three times the size of Kiva’s head. He grabbed the shaft with both hands and chains wrapped around them before snapping and revealing purple, gauntleted arms. His chest became purple as did his and Kivat’s eyes. Kiva leapt down and swung the hammer into the mummy’s side. I leapt onto the mummy and got him to tip over so the scarab would be on top.

“Get off me, you silly thing!” snapped the mummy as more mummies came. I saw a seedling.

“Gandalf!” I called as I pointed to the seedling.

“I think I know of two other elements that may help!” answered Gandalf. “Elemental Keystone, activate! Element of fire, Vortex! Element of water, Ichigō! Element of earth, Kiva!” Ichigō took care of the fire by the magenta Shift portal while I got rid of the ice near the yellow one. Kiva used his new powers on the seedling to make it grow vines that hit the mummy. He managed to get the scarab on its legs again and it started digging!

“Shift! Vortex! Yellow!” called Batman. I went to the formerly icy platform and the scarab charged at the target board beneath me, knocking itself silly again. Kiva swung the hammer again and knocked the scarab onto the mummy again.

“I command you to move!” ordered the mummy. There was another seedling, so Kiva grew a giant slab of earth from it. It fell and the scarab burrowed again.

“Shift! Ichigō! Magenta!” shouted Batman. Ichigō was on the now charred platform as the scarab came up and charge one last time, only to meet with the same result.

“WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT GETTING OFF OF ME?!” roared the mummy. One last seedling that Kiva grew, one mini volcano that threw a hot rock onto the scarab, effectively destroying it! While he was tossed into the air by the explosion, Kiva, Swing, Ichigō, and I got ready for our kicks. Kiva used a whistle on his right and put it into Kivat’s mouth.

“WAKE UP!” announced Kivat as he flew off his hook. Kiva raised his chained leg into the air as Kivat broke the chains. The armor opened to reveal red demon wings and a green circle on top of the foot. We all then leapt into the air. Kiva didn’t call out his kick, but the rest of us did.

“RIDER KICK!” called Ichigō.

“RIDER SWING KICK!” shouted Swing

“RIDER VORTEX KIVA GARURU KICK!” I announced. The mummy was kicked into the…stuff that Kiva and I…you know. He landed there and lost his grip on the Diamond Scarab. The mummies then lost their new life-forces and fell.

“Goodness,” panted Gandalf. “I have not seen magic like that in some time.”

“Not magic,” countered Gallop as he took the head off one of the mummies.

“I knew it!” hissed Batman. “They were robotic exhibits from a carnival! Because this mummy isn’t a mummy at all. It’s…” mask pulling-off time! “…the Fun fair owner!”

“Er, I don’t know of any fun fair owners made of solid space!” argued Swing. We all looked to see the head! That wasn’t a human head! The head belonged to…

“Vortech!” yelped Batman as Lord Vortech tore his mummy disguise off and got his usual clothes back on.

“And I would have gotten away with it,” hissed Vortech, “if it hadn’t have been for you meddling kids!”

“Decided to do your own dirty work?” I asked.

“Dirty work,” answered Vortech, “would have been a fine description if you didn’t kick me into your bile!”

“You’re not getting the Scarab back!” I declared.

“Try and stop me!” snapped Vortech as he charged at me. I managed to roll out of the way and Batman decked him, knocking a bag of studs from him. “THIEVES! THAT’S MINE!” roared Vortech. At that moment, a portal opened behind us as X-PO’s voice came through.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he called, “but you guys have the final Foundation Element. Head back to Vorton, but only if you, you know, want to save the entire multiverse.” At that point, Vortech seemed to get an idea, then stopped trying to get the Scarab from us.

“Yes, trot along,” he dismissed. “Take your trinket. I don’t need it; I have your friends.”

“Let’s go!” called Wyldstyle. I wasn’t one to argue, but Vortech’s change of heart scared me. Still, we took our leave of Scooby Doo’s world with Kiva behind us.


“So, you’re the one helping them, are you, X-PO?” I muttered to myself “A rather big mistake. Now, which dimension did I banish you to?” My musings were interrupted by voices. I hid behind one of the poles and saw Shaggy and Scooby running into the tent.

“I heard it in here!” called Scooby in his usual ‘r’ laden speech.

“Then, like, why aren’t we running in the opposite direction?!” asked Shaggy before they tripped into a bathtub. When they recovered, they saw the remains of my disguise. “Like, dude,” yelped Shaggy, “that is so freaky-deaky!” Their friends then came running up to them.

“You guys already solved the case?!” asked Fred in disbelief.

“And had the police take away the bad guy?!” quizzed Velma.

“Was it the fun fair owner again?” asked Daphne. Shaggy and Scooby decided to make up a story.

“Yeah, that’s right!” replied Shaggy.

“Yeah!” finished the dog. “Scooby Dooby Doo!” All right, that’s enough of that foolishness. Time to take my leave! I hope Igura had better luck than I.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 67

That nonsense with Heather made me sleep in this morning! Everyone could breathe easier now that Heather’s in Hell. We all had a late breakfast before assembling in the Gateway room. The Rider chance was fired up. “And the winners are…!” called X-PO as the hands slowed down to, “Tonje,” Tonje smiled, “and Mikhail!”

“Khorosho!” cheered Mikhail.

“Coordinates set,” reported Rusty.

“CHARGE!” I shouted.


We landed near the exit of a carnival at a road leading up to a spooky mansion on a hill. “Well,” mused Hongo, “Wataru might enjoy this.”

“Who?” I asked.

“Kurenai Wataru,” explained Hongo. “A Kamen Rider with a Vampire motif, Kamen Rider Kiva.”

“Great, a Kamen Rider out for blood,” muttered Mikhail.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about him,” assured Hongo. “He’s not a Vampire, per se.”

“Wait!” hissed Batman as we stopped at the rocks at the bottom of the hill. “I hear something.” We poked our heads around the rock and saw something that made Tonje, Mikhail, and I light up with glee! It was a 1960’s panel van with some custom details to the body with a blue and green paintjob with orange flowers and the words “The Mystery Machine” painted in orange. The owner, a blond young man in a blue shirt with a white sweater over it, blue pants, and an orange ascot, was leading his friends up to the mansion. The rest of the gang consisted of a red-headed woman in a purple shirt, headband, dress, and shoes with pink stockings and a green scarf, a brunette woman in thick, squared-rimmed glasses, a baggy orange turtle-neck sweater, and a red, pleated miniskirt, a lanky, long-necked man in a green V-neck shirt, brown bell-bottoms, and a scraggly beard, and a brown Great Dane with black spots and a collar with the license reading “SD”!

“It’s them!” I whispered.

“Mystery Incorporated!” chuckled Mikhail. “I’ve always had a crush on Velma!”

“Eh, I prefer Daphne,” replied Tonje.

“Who are they?” asked Wyldstyle.

“The blonde’s Fred, the red-head’s Daphne, the glasses-wearer is Velma, the scraggly guy is Shaggy, and the dog’s Scooby-Doo!” answered Mikhail.

“They’re paranormal investigators,” I explained.

“Those kids?” asked Batman.

“Those kids,” I said hotly, “have solved as many crimes as you!” Batman scratched his head.

“I swear those kids look familiar,” he muttered. “Must have been some look-a-likes in Gotham.”

“Well, gang,” announced Fred as they arrived at the mansion’s door, “this is my uncle Arthur’s house.” He pulled on a rope and it rang a creepy bell, making Scooby jump into Shaggy’s arms.

“Arthur Jones, the famous explorer,” recalled Velma. “Do you really believe he’s seen a mummy?”

“He’s certainly thinks he has,” replied Fred. “He said it’s after the Diamond Scarab he found in Egypt.”

“Then, it could be here,” guessed Daphne.

“Come on, you don’t really believe that, do you?” asked Velma.

“It’s worth splitting up to find clues for,” remarked Fred. Here it comes. “Hey, guys,” he called to Shaggy and Scooby, “can you check out the old fun-fair? That’s one of the places the mummy’s been seen.”

“Fun-fair?” gulped Shaggy.

“Ghost Train!” wailed Scooby. I swear he added extra r’s in there.

“Say, Velma,” mused Fred, “do you think that fun-fair has a cotton candy machine?” That changed their tune quick.

“Cotton Candy?!” cheered Scooby. He jumped out of Shaggy’s arms. “Let’s go!”

“Right behind you, ol’ buddy, ol’ pal!” called Shaggy as they took off to the Mystery Machine and drove past us while the rest of the gang.

“Come on,” directed Batman. “That Diamond Scarab sounds like our Foundation Element.”

“What do you suppose his mother wants the Scarab for?” asked Gandalf. “Perhaps as jewelry?”

“What?” asked Batman.

“Different type of mummy, Gandalf,” elaborated Wyldstyle. We approached the door, but it shut on us.

“Oh, it appears to have locked behind those good people,” mused Gandalf as he tried it again.

“Chroma locked, it looks like,” observed Wyldstyle. “Haven’t tried it out in a while. Let’s find the Chroma Discs!” We first checked the shed and saw that inside was tangled in vines.

“I think I’m going to need some help with this one,” muttered Batman.

“I got this,” called Mikhail. “Henshin.” He changed into Gallop and changed steels.

“Batman Steel!” announced his belt. They fired their grapple guns and yanked hard, letting a garden hose assembly come out. We attached it to the side of the house and the fountain came on. It spat out a large bag. We looked in to see studs. 745,000 studs, to be exact. Our total is now 4,146,000.

“Bingo,” Batman said in a snarky tone, “just what we needed.”

   “Okay, that’s it,” I hissed. “I’m using my Keystone. Locate Keystone, activate! Initiate rift detection!” I found it by a garden full of weeds. “Identify source of rift!” The information beamed into my head. “Locate help from W-1-Z-4-R-D-0-F-0-Z!”

“That place again?!” asked Batman. A Munchkin came out of the rift and watered the weeds, making them turn into a variety of colorful flowers. The plants spat out a red Chroma Disc. All of a sudden, Wyldstyle’s gauntlet started buzzing.

“Already?” muttered Wyldstyle. “Where are the other…well, there’s blue on the porch roof.”

“I see yellow in the green house,” replied Tonje.

“And I know how to get you guys there,” called Batman. “Shift Keystone, activate!  Magenta, by the garden! Yellow, in the green house! Cyan, on the roof! Shift! Megumi! Cyan!”

“Not again!” I yelped as I was dumped onto the roof.

“Shift! Tonje! Yellow!” directed Batman. Tonje was sucked into the green house as Gallop cancelled his transformation.

“Chroma Keystone, activate!” called Wyldstyle. “Chroma lock, reveal!” The Lock Design had a blue circle, a yellow left L-shape, and a red right L-shape. “Chroma! Red! Batman! Chroma! Blue! Megumi! Chroma! Yellow! Tonje!” We went into the paint before Batman got us together and we took our respective places. The door opened and someone fell from the roof! We headed over to see if he was okay. He was a Japanese man with a black and gold bat-like gadget flying around.

“Hey, are you all right?!” I asked. The man got himself up.

“Where am I?” asked the man.

“You’re in another dimension, Wataru,” explained Hongo.

“That’s Wataru?” I asked.

“And I’m Kivat-bat the Third!” introduced the bat-gadget.

“Hongo?!” called Wataru. “Am I glad to see you! Er, who are those people behind you?”

“I’m Batman,” began Batman.

“Gandalf the Grey,” introduced Gandalf

“I’m Wyldstyle,” replied Wyldstyle

“I’m Lord Mikhail Kuznetsov,” bowed Mikhail

“Lady Tonje Haugen,” introduced Tonje.

“And I’m Queen Megumi Hishikawa of the Feudal Nerd Society,” I finished as I curtsied.

“Right now,” revealed Batman, “we need to get in and get that Scarab.”

“I’ve overheard what the Scarab is to these kids,” replied Wataru. “Mind if I come with you?”

“As long as you keep your fangs away from my neck, sure,” I hissed.

“I’m a Fangire/human hybrid, not a full Vampire,” assured Wataru. “And a Fangire doesn’t need fangs to drain you of life energy.”

“That makes me so much better,” I snarked as we stepped inside. When we came in, we saw Fred, Velma, and Daphne heading towards a door on the upper level. Not a good idea to have Danger-prone Daphne bringing up the rear. She was going slower than her friends and was taken by a spinning wall. Velma and Fred didn’t know as they went through the door. When they shut it, a portcullis barred the door.

“Did…she just get caught behind a rotating wall?” asked Batman.

“What’s with this place?” asked Kivat-bat the Third.

“We’re definitely in the older Scooby-Doo episodes,” I mused. “Search the place.” We started thumping on the walls when Gandalf felt a candle on the wall move. He figured it would lead to something useful and pulled it, letting the portrait of Arthur Jones move up, but all that was there was a box of Scooby Snacks. Gandalf became curious and opened the box, taking a taste of one. It was safe to say he wasn’t a big fan of them. He tossed the box out the window as well as the rest of the snack he tasted.

“I don’t get it!” snapped Wyldstyle. “I looked everywhere!” She leaned against a bookcase and it fell apart! “Oops!” she gulped. Then, she got that look. “Actually, maybe not so much an oops!” she cheered as she managed to build an electric coil.

“How did you do that?!” asked Wataru.

“Best not to question it,” advised Hongo.

“Gandalf, if you please,” I directed.

“Elemental Keystone, activate! Element of lightning, Megumi!” announced Gandalf. I felt the familiar buzz as I gained electric powers. I fired lightning at the coil, startling Wataru and Kivat-bat the Third.

“Are you sure you’re not a Fangire?!” yelped Wataru. “Kivat, is she a Fangire?”

“I don’t know!” replied Kivat-bat the…Kivat.

“It’s just technology beyond our understanding,” I assured. We heard gears moving and headed to the upper level to see the portcullis going up and the door opening.

“Let’s see what’s in the next room,” directed Batman. We headed into the room and saw knight armor and taxidermized animals. An open door allowed the lightning outside to show a spooky figure. “Whoa, who’s shadow was that?!” asked Batman. Further down the room, Velma went into another room while Fred pulled on a book. That triggered a trap-door beneath him to open. “I’m experiencing some déjà vu!” muttered Batman.

“Maybe you DID meet Mystery Inc.,” I mused. Another portcullis then blocked us from Velma.

“I think I can solve that,” called Wyldstyle as she pulled on a chain from the ceiling. It raised an owl’s cage to reveal a button. I pressed it and the portcullis raised again, allowing us passage. In the next room, Velma realized she was alone and became nervous. She didn’t see where she was going and tripped over something, making her glasses fly off her face.

“My glasses!” she cried as she felt around. “I can’t see a thing without my glasses!” She stumbled towards an open sarcophagus and blundered inside. It shut itself on her and a hook from the ceiling grabbed it, pulling the sarcophagus and its passenger up. The room had a distinct Egyptian theme.

“How many themes are in this house?!” asked Batman.

“Wait, I think we may be in the right room!” I called. “The Diamond Scarab was found in Egypt, right?”

“Good thinking,” praised Batman. “The Egyptian room would make sense. Let’s start searching!” We examined everything, although the Jackal sarcophagi took some time. Batman had a gadget for situations like that but needed our help. Mikhail, Tonje, and I changed into our Rider suits and activated Batman Steel. We used our grapple guns to yank the Jackals off and reveal pressure plates. Swing and I stepped on them and Velma’s sarcophagus came down, sans Velma. It split when it landed and revealed a large hammer, larger than any of us could lift.

“I may require assistance,” muttered Gandalf.

“I got this,” called Gallop as he exchanged i.d. tags.

“Gandalf Steel!” announced his belt. He and Gandalf then used their magic to lift the hammer and break the sarcophagus to reveal…nothing.

“I’ll get help,” I sighed. “Locate Keystone, activate! Initiate rift detection!” I found it near one of the Jackals. “Identify source of rift!” The information was beamed into my head. “Locate help from D-C-C-0-M-1-C-5!” The rift opened to reveal…!

“SUPERMAN!” swooned Wyldstyle. It was, indeed, Superman! He flew into the room and flashed a grin.

“Couldn’t you at least get Cyborg?!” asked Batman.

“As I’ve said numerous times on this adventure,” I hissed, “I can’t choose what I get from this thing!”

“Batman!” snarled Superman. “Let’s settle this rivalry once and for all!” Uh oh! They were gonna…! “Coffee or tea?!” We all lost our balance momentarily, fell down…”anime-style” I believe it’s called.

“Er, Superman,” I interjected, “we have a bigger problem than that. We’re trying to find something called the Diamond Scarab and we think it’s in this room.”

“You need my help?” asked Superman. “Never fear, the Man of Steel is here!” He then used his x-ray vision to scan the entire room. “Aha! There it is, behind that wall!”

“The one with the painting of an Egyptian Pharaoh?” I asked.

“The same!” confirmed Superman.

“I guess, if all Riders kicked it…” I mused as I felt around the wall.

“I have a more expedient solution,” declared Superman.

“Okay, what’s that?” I asked, my back still to him.

“For a start, you’d best get behind me,” advised Superman.

“Why would I…?” I asked as I turned around to see Superman winding up for a punch! I took his advice and quickly got behind him. He punched the wall and it turned into dust. There, at the other end of the room, on a red, velvet cushion, was a scarab beetle made of diamond! “Thank you, Superman!” I cheered.

“Happy to help!” replied Superman.

“Superman, before you go,” stopped Batman, “do you have any information on a guy called Lord Vortech?”

“Vortech?” muttered Superman. “He’s just a myth on Krypton, something to frighten children into behaving.”

“Our experience with him would like to disagree,” I argued.

“Uh oh,” gulped Superman as realization dawned on him. “This is a League matter, then?”

“The final battle will be,” replied Batman. “We’re gathering objects like the Scarab to keep them out of Vortech’s hands as well as pinpoint his stronghold’s location as there are hostages in there, Robin included. You should probably tell the Titans as well.”

“Got it,” replied Superman. “Farewell, everyone.”

“Bye, Superman,” I bid. “Dismiss help!” Superman then flew through the rift for him as we headed to the Scarab.

“I hope I’m not tempting fate by saying this is easy,” muttered Wataru. He did! A mummy grabbed the Scarab.

“At long last!” wheezed the mummy. “The Diamond Scarab! Behold!” The floor then gave way beneath us!

“WATARU, I’M GONNA KILL YOU!” I shouted as we fell.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 66

“I was the princess,” muttered Kaitlyn.

“The TARDIS is not a toy!” shouted 70-year-old me.

“Er, where IS the Den-Liner crew?” I asked.

“After we came back,” explained Joshua, “the Den-Liner came here to pick them up. They’re already gone.”

“And WE need to go as well,” continued 70-year-old me.

“It’s nice to know that my future is in good hands,” I replied.

“You were the one who made that choice,” observed 70-year-old me. She opened up a time rift. “Goodbye, Megumi.”

“Goodbye, Megumi,” I bid as we both bowed. They all soon went back to their original time. “Oof! My head!” I complained. “Time travel’s just one nuisance after another!”

“Speaking of time,” interjected Richard, “it’s against us. Heather’s probably finishing it up now!”

“Get Emily and have her join us in the Gateway Room,” I directed. “Batman, Hongo, Wyldstyle, Gandalf, Lacey, with me.”

“Not that I want to question you,” argued Richard, “but are you sure sending Emily after Heather is a good idea?”

“Heather may attack in a blind rage,” I admitted, “but she can cause damage. I want a medic with us. Besides, it might be the best way for Emily to get closure on Heather. I can just imagine her face now as she lords victory over her old nemesis and high school bully.”

“Very well,” conceded Richard. He headed off to find Emily as the rest of the team joined me. Lacey called up Death on her phone and informed her we would meet her at After Academy. After she finished the call, she gave the technical team the coordinates and they set the Gateway for that location. Rusty gave the thumbs-up as Emily joined us.

“Ready to close the book on her?” I asked.

“Do you even need to ask?” replied Emily.

“Let’s go, then!” I declared. The rift opened and we charged through.

After Academy is certainly opulent, I can tell you. The Four Horsemen joined us a few seconds later. “Had to confirm something,” whispered Death.

“And?” I asked.

“Nothing you need to know just yet,” whispered Death. “Come. We have work to do.” We made our way to a cave on the outskirts of the school and had examined all of the bits and pieces of technology strewn about the place.

“Does she even know what half this stuff is?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she found out,” muttered Emily. That got our attention. “Heather has more in common with the Daleks than just her racism. She’s a genius in terms of mechanical skill.”

“A pity she didn’t put it to good use,” I lamented.

“There she is!” whispered Hongo. Heather was busy using a solder on something, her knockoff Apocalypse Driver, in all likelihood. We then saw her put the tool down.

“Done!” she cheered. “It’s finished!” I nodded to my team.

“So are you!” roared Emily.

“You!” snarled Heather as she turned to us.

“Heather, you don’t want to do this!” I warned.

“What I don’t want,” insisted Heather, “is interference from you freaks!” She came at us with wild punches. Hongo struck his pose and we got our i.d. tags out. The Horsemen and Lacey we’re ready as well.

“Rider…” called Hongo.

“Henshin!” we all announced. We changed and the fight began. Heather tried to slam her fists on to my head, but Apocalypse kicked her in the stomach. Heather tried to change her target to Apocalypse and did a roundhouse, but Apocalypse jumped out of the way so Ichigō could catch her foot. He then flipped her into the air, leaving her open to Batman’s knife-hand jab to the gut. Gandalf held her in the air with his magic while Wyldstyle made a giant fist out of the rock and slammed it onto Heather. Death then grabbed her legs and tossed her to War, who kicked her over to me. I drove my knee into her spine. While she was trying to pull herself together, Famine bit her arm, leaving a gaping wound for Pestilence to fire a gas at her. She briefly broke out in spots, but they vanished on account of the fact she was already dead. Touché then grabbed her hair.

“For everything you ever did to me and for those people you’ve killed!” she declared. She grabbed her nemesis by the throat and tossed her into the cave wall. “It’s over, Heather,” commented Touché. “You’ve lost. Your small-minded obsession towards purity is weighing you down.”

“IT IS NOT SMALL-MINDED!” roared Heather as she held up her knock-off Apocalypse Driver. “PURITY IS WHAT KEEPS US GOING! CAN’T YOU SEE THAT?!”

“Heather, don’t do it!” warned Apocalypse.

“SHUT UP!” bellowed Heather. “I’m coming back and no one’s gonna stop me!” She then put the Driver on…and felt the consequences. She was zapped multiple times and convulsed in pain while a bright light filled the area. It expanded to cover us all and blind us. When we regained our vision, well, I can’t speak for everyone’s belief in their sight, but I CAN speak for my own, because I couldn’t believe it! There, wearing a photo-negative version of the Apocalypse Driver, was an equally photo-negative version of Lacey! Heather picked herself up and examined herself. She was still transparent. “No!” she yelled. “No, this is all wrong! IT’S SUPPOSED TO BRING ME BACK! I’M SUPPOSED TO HAVE A FULLY FUNCTIONING BODY!”

“You have an annoying talent for whining,” replied a voice. It sounded like Apocalypse’s voice, but with a slight echo.

“How are you doing that?” I asked as we cancelled our transformations.

“Who are you talking to?” asked Lacey.

“…You,” I replied, confused. “You made your voice go all echoey.”

“No,” contradicted Lacey. “I didn’t say anything. And I can’t make my voice have an echo.”

“Well, it WAS your voice,” replied Richard.

“No, it was mine,” corrected the voice again. At that moment, we all turned to Lacey’s Negative Clone.

“…Did YOU speak?” I asked.

“I should hope I did,” remarked the clone. “I have been dormant for eons since the dawn of eternity. I exist as a voice for the Void.”

“The Void?” whispered Death. “Oh, this is brilliant!”

“The Void,” wheezed Pestilence, “is the counter to the multiverse. While everything exists here, nothing, and I do mean NOTHING, exists in the Void.”

“I have been born,” continued the Lacey Clone, “as a guardian of the Void. Specifically, I guard the multiverse against the Void. There must be a balance between everything and nothing. Even if Vortech were to succeed in his plans, the Void would remain.”

“That’s why there should be only ONE Apocalypse Driver!” hissed Death as she turned to Heather. “I warned you about what would happen if you went through with this! You ignored me and easily half the multiverse! Even Caan could see what your machinations could have wrought, and he’s a Dalek!”

“I will NOT be condemned to never having offspring!” shouted Heather. “If the multiverse won’t let me have children, I will happily burn it!”

“That CAN’T happen!” insisted the Lacey Clone. “The power would be uncontrollable! You’d be erased along with the multiverse before you had a chance to breed!”

“You’d destroy the multiverse just to make all life like you?” asked Emily. “You sound like a Dalek.”

“Being barren is unbearable!” protested Heather. “Being DEAD is unbearable!”

“Heather Richards, your unholy crusade nearly destroyed everything!” declared the Lacey Clone. She snapped her fingers and a fiery hole opened up beneath Heather. She grabbed the edge before she fell. “All of Hell wants a word with you!” hissed the Lacey Clone.

“NO! YOU CAN’T SEND ME DOWN THERE!” screamed Heather as she tried to pull herself up. The Lacey Clone stepped on her hands.

“The decision was already made by both Man and God,” she insisted. She then kicked Heather down to Hell.

“I HATE YOU!” roared Heather as her screams mingled with those of the Damned. The Lacey Clone shut the hole and there was silence.

“That was…utterly terrifying!” mumbled Hongo.

“That’s the point of monsters like her,” replied the Lacey Clone. “In any case, it’s good to see you all, finally.”

“…Finally?” asked Lacey.

“The Void has had a consciousness of its own,” explained the Lacey Clone. “It’s been waiting to explore the multiverse without causing imbalance. Heather’s attempt to come back to life was the chance it needed. So, I have a belt that gives me a suit just like you guys do. I guess you could call me Kamen Rider Void.”

“What about your civilian name?” I asked. “I don’t know about the rest of us, but in my head, I’ve called you Lacey Clone. Do you have a different name?”

“…You know, I think I just thought of one,” replied the Lacey Clone. “Call me Sandra, Sandra Noman.”

“Noman?” asked Lacey. “That means ‘not a person’. Are you sure you want that?”

“I’m of the Void,” replied the newly christened Sandra. “I think it’s appropriate.”

“Well, all right,” I sighed. “In any case, can we count on you in the final fight against Vortech?”

“I must disappoint you,” answered Sandra. “My powers are too out of control and getting a handle on them will take time, long after the final fight against Vortech. I must apologize.”

“Will you at least consider joining After Academy?” whispered Death.

“It sounds like an excellent school,” mused Sandra. “I might join it. I’m on the fence about it, though.”

“If you DO want to,” wheezed Pestilence, “you need merely ask us.”

“And no hurry in choosing a house,” assured Lacey.

“Thank you, all of you,” replied Sandra. “Until next time.” Black mist then surrounded her until she and the mist vanished.

“That…was intense!” I breathed. “There IS one more thing I need to do.”

“What’s that?” asked Lacey.

“Lacey and Horsemen,” I called, “how would you like to be members of the Feudal Nerd Society?”

“We haven’t had new members in a LONG time!” cheered Emily.

“It’s only been a year since Sheela joined us,” I replied. “It’s all your choice.”

“I’d be a fool NOT to join!” declared Lacey.

“I suppose it won’t hurt,” whispered Death.

“Eh, why not?” grunted War.

“This could be fun,” wheezed Pestilence. “Count me in!”

“I want in on this!” mumbled Famine as she finished her protein bar.

“What about you guys?” I asked, turning to Batman, Hongo, Wyldstyle, and Gandalf.

“I must respectfully decline,” replied Gandalf. “But, thank you.”

“Sorry, I have to say no as well,” remarked Batman.

“Yeah, sorry,” muttered Wyldstyle. “When this is over, I’m gonna be busy with the Master Builder Academy.”

“And I must say no was well,” answered Hongo. “I do apologize if I have disappointed you.”

“Like I said,” I assured them, “it’s all your choice. I understand.”

“But, if you want to reconsider,” offered Emily, “just come find us.”

“Thank you,” replied Batman.

“Now, kneel, Lacey and Horsemen,” I instructed. I’m probably one of few people the Horsemen ever kneeled to. I drew my blade and tapped their shoulders as if I were knighting them. “And rise, Dame Lacey Thanatos, Duchess Death, Dame War, Lady Pestilence, and Lady Famine!” They rose as new members of the Feudal Nerd Society!

“Now comes the real question,” declared Lacey, “who do I see for a dress?”

“My mother can help in that regard,” I answered.

“She’s made the costumes for the entire F.N.S,” explained Emily. “She’s always open to ideas.”

“I’ll ask her for help when we get back,” declared Lacey.

“Speaking of,” I remarked. I then called up Vorton. “X-PO, mission accomplished. Heather is no more and the knock-off Apocalypse Driver DIDN’T destroy the multiverse. Boy, have we got a story to tell you all!”

“One rift home coming up!” cheered X-PO. “And we’ve found the next Foundation Element!”

“We’ll remain here,” whispered Death. “But, we’ll join you in the final battle! Good luck!”

“Thank you!” I called as we jumped through.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 56

We made our way to a landing pad in two hours. The new Gotengo-A looked like the one in Godzilla: Final Wars but was a little trimmer. Admiral Douglas Gordon, I still remember him as a Captain, came out to meet us as well as Biollante. She saw Zilla, ran towards him, and hugged him, wrapping all four legs around him. Zilla reciprocated, earning a raised eyebrow from Godzilla. “Biollante? Explanations?” he asked.

“We’re dating,” replied Biollante. Godzilla’s eyes went wide.

“Er, Biollante, could you excuse us for a sec?” he hissed. Biollante sensed what Godzilla was gonna do.

“Be gentle with him, all right?” she requested as she released Zilla. Godzilla then slowly advanced on him with a disarming smile. Zilla gave a nervous grin and a small wave. Godzilla dropped the grin and hoisted him above his head.

“Break her heart and I boil yours!” snarled Godzilla. He was then grabbed by the tail and pulled backwards to fall on his face. Biollante had released her leg’s grip on his tail.

“In what way was that gentle?” she hissed.

“So, you have the coordinates?” asked Admiral Gordon.

“We do, indeed,” answered Mothra. “I’ll give them to your navigator.”

“Excellent,” grunted Admiral Gordon. “Let’s get going.” We all boarded the Gotengo-A and made ourselves comfortable.

“You know,” I pondered aloud, “what would Kiryu’s brain be doing in geostationary orbit?”

“Good question,” replied Admiral Gordon. “Maybe…” the alarm interrupted him. “Report!” he shouted to Tactical.

“We have an intruder on board!” reported Tactical. “It’s in the cargo hold!”

“What is it doing?!” I asked.

“Just walking around!” replied Tactical.

“Security! Cargo hold, on the double!” barked Admiral Gordon. My team and the Kaiju-men joined him as we made our way to the cargo hold. On the way, Batman chose this opportunity to talk.

“Tora-Onna would help,” he suggested.

“Out of the question,” I shot down.

“You’re being absurd!” snapped Batman.

“I can’t scare these people!” I replied. “Besides, X-PO told me that the belts have self-repair functions.”

“How long?” asked Batman.

“That, he didn’t say,” I answered. Our conversation was cut short as we arrived at the cargo hold. The intruder was surrounded.

“Hands in the air!” barked Admiral Gordon. The intruder turned and faced him. It was a Japanese woman in her late 40’s. She wore a dress similar to my old princess one, but in red and gold, and she wore my crown.

“About time!” she griped. “You guys came later than I remember.”

“Lady, who are you?!” asked Admiral Gordon.

“Obaa-san,” (Grandmother) I interjected, “we need some questions answered.”

“Watch it!” snapped the woman. “I’m still in my late 70’s. My 30 something twin daughters don’t have children yet.”

“Late 70’s?!” I asked. “Lady, you look like you’re in your late 40’s!”

“Oh?” she asked. “I aged more gracefully than I remember.”

“Lady, who are you?!” I hissed, repeating Admiral Gordon’s question.

“Take a look, a deep look, Queen Megumi Hishikawa,” answered the woman. Wait, what?

“You know my name?” I quizzed. I then examined her face. Something seemed…familiar. I ran my hand down my nose, she mirrored my movements. I ran my hand across my cheek, she mirrored me again. I then traced an imaginary wrinkle up my other cheek, she did the same! “No!” I gasped. “You’re…”

“Yep,” replied the woman.

“All of it?” I asked.

“Uh huh,” answered the woman.

“Even the wrinkles?!” I asked.

“Yes!” she said hotly.

“You’re me… at 70 years old?” I queried.

“YES!” she confirmed.

“How did you…?” I asked my future.

“Something called a Hyper-time hole,” explained 70-year-old me. “It allows me to go into any point in a universe’s timeline. I just hope this is the point where I made the right decision.”

“On?” I asked.

“My deciding to use Tora-Onna, or rather, you deciding to do so,” answered 70-year-old me.

“Oh no, not you!” I snapped.

“Yes, me!” hissed 70-year-old me.

“Tora-Onna?” asked Admiral Gordon.

“Megumi has a monster form, a mutant tiger cyborg,” explained Lacey.

“And you didn’t tell us?!” roared Admiral Gordon.

“It’s not a side I use frequently,” I answered.

“Well, we need an edge,” insisted Mothra.

“Yes, and I can’t have you just blatantly ignoring that side,” snapped 70-year-old me.

“Well, I can’t just use her willy-nilly!” I snarled. “Now, go back to your time and take that stupid purple hole with you!”

“Purple hole?” quizzed 70-year-old me. She followed my finger and saw the hole above us. “That should have closed,” she muttered.

“Well, you used to be me,” I mused. “What happens next?”

“I don’t remember,” replied 70-year-old me.

“…How can you forget THIS?!” I quizzed as I pointed to the two of us…me…her…whatever.

“Hang on!” protested 70-year-old me. “It’s hardly MY fault! You’re obviously not paying enough attention!” She tossed me a Sonic Screwdriver while she took out a gold scepter with a blue orb on it. “Now, help me reverse the polarity!” she commanded. I switched the Sonic Screwdriver on while she pressed a button that opened the orb and released a blue light. The purple hole stayed. “It’s…not working,” muttered 70-year-old me.

“You’re BOTH reversing the polarity,” rasped Batman.

“Yes, that was the…” I reminded.

“YOU’RE reversing the polarity, then YOU’RE reversing it back,” interrupted Batman. “You’re CONFUSING the polarity.” At that point, someone came through the hole and it closed. The figure dusted itself off. It was an older Japanese woman, in her 90’s by the look, having white hair, a warmer dress, and a cane. She looked around the place.

“Ah, the Gotengo-A,” she sighed. “That takes me back.” She then saw the two of…me. “Ah! I remember! The points of my life converging!”

“Another me?!” I yelped.

“I’m as surprised as you!” called 70-year-old me.

“Well, to answer the question you DON’T usually ask a lady,” remarked the oldest me, “I was celebrating my bicentennial.”

“200 years!!” I yelped. “You look like you’re in your 90’s!”

“I’ve forgotten how much I’ve stated the obvious,” sighed 200-year-old me. “So, this is the point where the Scaredy-cat and the Ridiculous Queen Mom come together.” Did…I just get insulted…twice over…by me?! “Have you done anything towards your mission?” asked 200-year-old me.

“Well, we’re finding Kiryu’s brain,” I answered.

“And I was telling this nitwit not to be afraid of Tora-Onna,” snapped 70-year-old me.

“Just as I thought,” muttered 200-year-old me. “Nothing.”

“Nothing?!” I said hotly.

“What is your real mission here, hm?” asked 200-year-old me.

“My real…oh, yeah,” I recalled, remembering why I came to this dimension in the first place.

“Heather’s trying to make another Apocalypse Driver!” gulped 70-year-old me.

“Thankfully, you and your team are on the right track,” replied 200-year-old me. “She’s near Kiryu’s brain on the Xilien ship it’s on.”

“What?!” I yelped.

“The Xiliens?!” roared Godzilla. “Those nitwits that controlled a good chunk of monsters?! I’ll roast them!”

“All hands,” ordered Admiral Gordon, “prepare boarding parties! Get weapons online! We’re facing the Xiliens again!”

“Now, what do the Xiliens usually want, hm?” asked 200-year-old me.

“Well, er…” began 70-year-old me.

“A certain resource?” I finally answered. “Like water, or our mitochondria?”

“It’s water again,” replied 200-year-old me. “So, stop stalling and kick Xilien ass!” She then made another purple hole and jumped in!

“Hey!” I called.

“You let her get away!” accused 70-year-old me.

“Did not! That was you!” I protested.

“Girls, PLEASE!” called Lacey.

“Who’s a girl?!” the two of me asked, offended. I like to consider myself as an adult.

“We need a forward boarding party,” replied Lacey. “Who’s leading it?”

“Me!” called the two of me. We then looked at each other. “ME!” We glared at each other for a while.

“Oh, for the love of…!” hissed Batman as he fished out a coin. He handed it to me. I looked on both sides. It was Two-Face’s double-headed coin. I showed it to 70-year-old me.

“Call it, clean or marred?” I asked.

“Marred,” replied 70-year-old me. I tossed it and slapped it to the back of my hand. “Well?” asked 70-year-old me as I looked.

“Bad luck, Obaa-san,” I replied. She bristled at that remark and the tone I used.

“All right,” she sighed. “Just be careful.”

“Careful?” I asked. “I seem to forget when I get to be your age that a Kamen Rider does NOT become one by being careful.” I picked Godzilla, King Ghidorah, Batman, and Biollante. I needed heavy hitters to take out whatever resistance we met. We soon arrived, the Xilien ship taking the form of the saucer that arrived in the Showa Era. Ghidorah clenched his fists. I put my hand on his shoulder. “Easy,” I called. “Wait until we’re inside.” We went nearer and nearer…and nearer…and nearer still!

“Okay, we’re in weapons range right now,” rumbled Admiral Gordon. “Why aren’t they shooting us?”

“Someone asleep at the switch?” asked Lacey.

“That, or it’s a trap,” guessed Batman.

“We’re running alongside the Xiliens’ ship now,” reported Tactical.

“Send out an airlock and get ready to board,” ordered Admiral Gordon. My team got ready and the airlock docked with the ship. We started cutting our way through. Once the metal was cut sufficiently enough, we forced the doorway into the ship. Once the metal cooled, we went in. What I saw, ladies and gentlemen, had to be seen to be believed. Three men were asleep at the console. They were men I had seen on YouTube before! One of the men had a black, bowl style haircut, the second had red, curly hair at the back and sides, but none on top, and the third was a fat, bald man. It was Moe, Larry, and Curly, the Three Stooges! Batman and Lacey saw them and their jaws dropped.

“You were right!” I whispered to Lacey as the Stooges snored. “Three times over, even!”

“What are THEY doing here?!” asked Lacey.

“I’m supposed to be the World’s Greatest Detective,” mused Batman, “and even I don’t know!”

“They must have blundered their way here,” I whispered. I then waved 70-year-old me’s assault team of Zilla, Mothra, Admiral Gordon, and the blundering Kiryu. 70-year-old me saw the Stooges and rubbed her eyes.

“How?!” she whispered.

“Does it matter?!” I asked. “Our assault may go a little more smoothly! To the bridge! We’ll find the Controller there.” We proceeded to the bridge, making sure not to get caught. When we arrived, Heather was there, talking to a Xilien. Well, shouting at, I should say.

“I’ve been doing things for you for a while now and the belt you said you have hasn’t arrived in my hand yet!” she roared. “$5,000! No less!” The Xilien shook his head. “X, you are a criminal! A cheat! Your impure savagery knows no bounds!”

“Hold your tongue, human mongrel,” hissed the Xilien Controller, X, “or these negotiations are concluded in a very messy way. THAT is my final request! The United States’ Federal Gold Reserve is simply the cost of doing business with my people!”

“Doesn’t power mean anything to you?!” roared Heather. “I guaranteed an entire universe for you! But, you will only get it once I have the belt!”

“You told me of the power it has,” replied X. “Which is why I sent you on those tasks, which, for human scum, you did well. You allowed Monster 2-1 and Monster 2-2 to get captured and taken to the G.D.F base. You took Kiryu’s brain, rendering the smartest monster in 15 countries useless. Now, we need valuable materials for an economy. That’s why the price is what it is.”

“I should have hired the Klan!” snapped Heather. “You’re nothing but incompetent filth!”

“No, worm, that is you, not me,” replied X. He turned to one of his men. “I know this requires touching her but get this piece of human garbage into the brig!”

“At once, Controller,” confirmed the man. He grabbed Heather roughly, who spewed thousands of racist phrases at him, the insulting J word being among them. The man just responded with “Shut up, vermin.” They were off the bridge before X found something else to rant about.

“Why aren’t our scanners back online?!” he roared. “Those three should have fixed it an hour ago!”

“That’s your first mistake,” I muttered. I was promptly shushed.

“I can’t understand it, Controller,” remarked a Xilien woman. “They’re supposed to be members of the Scientific Elite!”

“Well, clearly not!” snapped X. “Commander 0-2-9, go find them! Order them to hurry up or be executed!”

“At once,” obliged the woman. We made ourselves scarce as she went through the door. After a few seconds, we heard her wake the Stooges up.

“Gee, sorry, Ms. Xamper,” apologized Moe’s voice. “We were just…”

“I know, I know,” replied the woman, Xamper. “Look, there’s a circuit board. And there’s a computer bank. But, the computer bank is no good without the circuit board. Not one itty bitty bit of good. YOU HALF-WITS! Get to fixing this thing or else!”

“Or else what?!” asked Larry.

“Or else we see if members of the Scientific Elite can run around with their heads cut off!” threatened Xamper.

“Well, fellas,” gulped Larry, “let’s get to work!”

“I think you got something there!” yelped Moe.

“So help me, if you twits mess this up…!” roared Xamper. She didn’t get very far as something clonked her on the head. The Stooges made frightened noises and ran past us and onto the bridge with Xamper in hot pursuit.

“That’s our cue!” I called. “CHARGE!” The Kaiju-men gave off their signature roars as we stormed the bridge. The whole bridge crew was surprised by our entrance and we managed to get into various grappling matches. I managed to tackle X to the floor, shoving theories of how he came back to life to the back of my mind. I then shoved X’s coat over his head.

“What’s going on?!” he demanded as he tried to restore his vision. I then delivered a swift kick in his pants and he tumbled into his chair. He soon got out of his situation and his hair spiked up. He was in his Keizer state!

“Not good!” I yelped. He then delivered several blows to my person. As I hit the floor, I noticed how many bruises and cuts I had. I was outclassed, and I didn’t have a functioning belt! “All right, multiverse, you win!” I shouted to the heavens. “You want Tora-Onna? You got her!” I then felt my muscles expand, a tail came out, my mouth and nose became a muzzle, my human ears shrunk into my head while tiger ears came out from the top, and fur and metal appeared everywhere. My dress had changed into pants, must be Shocker Tech that changed my clothes, and I unsheathed my claws, roaring at Keizer X. We then clashed again, this time the blows were equal. While that was going on, King Ghidorah was fighting Xamper. They matched blow for blow.

“Oh, how I’ve ALWAYS wanted to do this to you, Monster 0!” giggled Xamper.

“It’s King Ghidorah!” roared Ghidorah.

“Apologies, ‘Your Majesty’!” mocked Xamper. Ghidorah blasted the woman with his Gravity beams. “You would strike a lady!?” she protested.

“I strike at any evil, gender be damned!” roared Ghidorah. Xamper then round-housed him into the wall.

“Well, I tried,” she sighed. She then fought with greater ferocity. At that point, green gunk landed on her back. It was apparently acidic as she screamed in agony. She face the one who threw that at her. Biollante had taken a different form. She still looked human, but her hair was darker, the rose that usually adorned her hair wasn’t, her fingers looked like the toothy vines she used for attack, and her teeth were more jagged. “Plant Witch!” roared Xamper as the acid sap stopped its effects. Her hair spiked up. It was another Keizer!

“Come at me!” taunted Biollante. Xamper threw Ghidorah at Biollante and the two Kaiju-men crumpled in a heap. They picked themselves up, telling each other to watch it. At that point, Heather came in, holding a laser gun.

“NOBODY MOVE!” she shouted. “I got you J*** covered!” Then, I heard it, the familiar “Nyuk Nyuk!” as Curly flipped a switch. “WHO PUT OUT THE LIGHTS?!” squawked Heather as she took a few shots in the dark, literally. Curly had turned the lights off and we started blundering into each other. Godzilla lit a match.

“Nee-chan! You there?!” he asked before someone snuffed the match and he fired his atomic breath wildly into the ceiling. Curly lit another match.

“Here I am, Moe!” he called before he turned to me. “NYAAAaaaAAAaaaAAAAH!” he screamed before I snuffed the match. I guess I scare people easily. X then activated a Xilien flashlight.

“Careful around here!” he barked before two people decked him. I then found a match and struck it.

“Batman, where are you?!” I asked. Someone grabbed my shoulder. I yelped and punched the guy. It was Batman! “Batman, I’m sorry!” I gasped. Batman accepted the apology and switched the lights on. The Kaiju-men and Admiral Gordon were picking themselves up, Heather and the Xiliens were out cold, my team rushed to my side, and the Stooges had tangled themselves up and were fighting.

“Curly, get your foot out of my eye!” demanded Larry.

“Whose feet are you talking about?!” protested Curly as he bit a hand, making Moe scream.

“Okay, apple-head, you asked for it!” Larry started twisting the foot and screaming in pain. “OW, THAT’S MINE!” cried Larry.

“Get them loose!” I snapped. We all disentangled the Stooges. Moe then turned on Curly.

“That’s my hand, not a ham!” he shouted before smacking Curly on the forehead. “What’s the matter with you?!”

“Hey, let him alone!” protested Larry.

“What are you butting in for?!” snapped Moe. He then held his fist out. “See that?” Larry smacked it down and the fist went in a circle on Larry’s head.

“Gentlemen!” called 70-year-old me. The Stooges looked behind themselves. “I mean you three,” sighed 70-year-old me.

“Oh, us!” replied Moe. The Stooges went over to her. “What can we do for you, Madame?”

“Could you boys tell me how you got here?” asked 70-year-old me.

“Yeah, how did you guys pass yourselves off as Xilien Scientists?” I asked. The Stooges turned and made scared noises. “What’s the matter with you?!” I snapped.

“The fur!” hissed Godzilla. “Lose the fur!”

“What fur?” I asked. I looked myself over and realized I was still Tora-Onna. “Hey! I still feel like me! I don’t need to be afraid of Tora-Onna anymore!” I then reverted to my human state. At that point, a band of light flew onto the bridge and wrapped around my waist. It then died down and formed the Supreme Vortex Driver! I heard Vortoranii yawn.

“That was a nice nap,” she sighed. “What did I miss?”

“You chose NOW to repair yourself?!” I protested.

“Actually, I simply switched that function off while I was dissected,” explained Vortoranii. “I wanted to see how well you fought without a belt and it seems you did pretty well! I was afraid you were using me as a crutch.”

“You could have told me this was a test of my natural abilities!” I snapped.

“That would have broken the test,” replied Vortoranii. “In any case, what ARE you three doing here?”

“Well, we were doing our plumbing business,” answered Moe, “when a blue hole opened under us. We landed in the corridor out there.”

“Then Xamper came up, thinking we were scientists,” continued Larry. “We were about to correct her.”

“Then we saw the guards,” supplied Curly. “So, we were promoted to scientists!”

“And we’ve been trying to fix the ship for a week now,” finished Larry.

“Oh boy,” I sighed.

“Yeah, but the way we wired things, one touch on the controls,” boasted Moe, “and the ship goes crashing down.”

“Let’s hold off on that,” I suggested. “We need to find this guy’s brain.” I indicated Kiryu.

“Ha HA!” laughed Kiryu as he shoved Curly. “Roly poly!”

“What did HE drink?!” asked Curly.

“Must have hit the Mectacoconane too hard,” replied Moe, making up a drink.

“Fellas, let’s find his brain!” declared Larry.

“Where?” asked Moe.

“Well, uh,” stammered Larry.

“Oh, ignorant, eh?!” snapped Moe as he smacked Larry. “Hey, onion-head, where can we find his brain?”

“Well, it, um,” replied Curly.

“Oh, don’t know, eh?!” snarled Moe as he smacked Curly.

“Wait a minute!” protested Larry. “Do YOU know where we can find his brain?!”

“No, what’s it to you?” growled Moe.

“Oh, nothing,” replied Larry. “Just wanted to know.”

“Maybe it’s in that file cabinet,” I suggested. The Stooges started looking in the open drawer.

“Nothing but papers,” muttered Larry. He shut the drawer so hard that it opened the bottom one. It hit his feet. Larry started clutching his feet.

“Stand aside!” declared Curly. He shut the drawer and the middle one opened, going right into his tummy. He started holding it to make the pain go away, then he wagged his finger at the drawer, going “hhhMMMM!!”

“You lame-brains can’t do anything right, can you?!” snapped Moe. “Get out of the way! I’LL show you how to close it!” He shut the middle drawer and ducked down when the top drawer slid open. “See?” called Moe. “That’s using your brain!” He then got up and hit his head on the drawer’s underside.

“Guys!” announced Zilla. He was holding an ovular shaped object, colored in silver. It had some sort of port on the underside.

“That’s Kiryu’s brain!” cheered Biollante. “Zilla-chan, where did you find it?!”

“In X’s coat pocket,” replied Zilla. “I was frisking him for any plans on his person. Let’s install the brain before we crash the ship.” As Mothra and Ghidorah got to work, the Stooges started groaning.

“X had the brain the entire time!” said Larry, exasperated.

“How do you like that?!” asked Curly.

“I DON’T like it,” replied Moe. “And I don’t like this cabinet! But, it’s a matter of principle with me! I’m gonna shut that drawer if it’s the last thing I do!” He slammed the drawer, but Larry and Curly had their hands on top of the cabinet with their fingers going over. The drawer smashed their fingers and slid forward again to smash Moe in the face. As Larry and Curly rubbed their fingers to get rid of the pain, Moe shook his head. “That’s the last thing I’ll do,” he sighed. We then heard a groan. We turned to the source to see Kiryu holding his head.

“Kiryu? Buddy?” asked Zilla. “Pull my finger?”

“…Don’t be infantile!” snapped Kiryu as he swatted the finger away.

“He’s back!” cheered Mothra.

“You know,” teased Zilla, “you’d still be the smartest monster in 29 countries if you’d lighten up a bit!”

“15 countries,” corrected Kiryu. “Why is that so difficult to remember?”

“Whatever!” dismissed Zilla.

“It’s obviously NOT a ‘whatever’ if Kiryu insists you use the right number!” replied 70-year-old me.

“A good chunk of White America in a nutshell,” I remarked.

“HEY!” protested Zilla.

“Kiryu-san,” I continued, “the Xilien ship is under our control, but we can’t risk any powers on Earth trying the Xilien plan of taking our water. These three have wired the controls in a way so we can crash the ship. You might want to hold on to something.” Kiryu nodded and went to brace himself. We all followed suit. “Okay, boys!” I called to the Stooges. “Get this ship out of the sky!”

“She wants us to take over!” cheered Moe.

“What are we waiting for?!” asked Curly. The Stooges started fiddling with the controls. The ship then started turning and falling! The Gotengo-A was following us closely as we made our way to the crash site. When we landed, the Xilien ship was a smoldering wreck. We picked our way out and saw we were near the G.D.F base!

“Success!” cheered Moe as he and his friends shook each other’s hands.

“Congratulations all around,” I praised. I then grabbed Heather by the hair. After checking to make sure she had a pulse, which she did, I shook her awake. She then saw me.

“LET GO!” she barked.

“Nothing doing!” I replied. “You’re coming with me!”

“What about him?” asked Heather as she pointed behind me.

“Nice try,” I said, totally deadpan.

“Er, ma’am,” gulped Kiryu, “I don’t think that was a lame attempt at distraction.”

“What are you…?” I asked. I then saw X right behind the Stooges! “EEEEEEE!” I yelled in terror.

“What song is that?” asked Larry.

“Guys, be careful! He’s behind you!” I warned.

“Who?” asked Moe. X then blew on Moe’s left shoulder. He turned to Curly. “Don’t breathe down my neck! I don’t like it!” X then blew on Curly’s shoulder.

“It’s all right for YOU to do it!” snapped Curly.

“Do what?” asked Moe.

“Breathe down my neck! Onions, too!” clarified Curly.

“You’re crazy!” remarked Moe. Larry then giggled as X blew on his shoulder.

“Stop it! You tickle me!” he protested.

“Who?” asked Moe.

“You!” replied Larry.

“You’re both nuts!” called Moe. X then blew on Moe’s shoulder again. He then grabbed X’s shoulder and realized something. “H-hey, C-C-Curly,” he stammered, “ha-ha-have y-y-you got a l-l-leather coat on?!”

“No,” replied Curly as he looked behind him. He then saw X and put on a terrified face. “But, HE does!” All the Stooges screamed as X drew a sword.

“NOW!” he shouted. “I’M GONNA CUT YOU ALL INTO LITTLE PIECES!” He charged at me and swung the sword. I used a pipe to block it. “YOU INTERRUPTED MY PLANS! YOU KILLED MY CREW! YOU CRASHED MY SHIP! I’M GONNA CUT YOUR HEAD OFF!” I rolled out of the way and instinctively went for my i.d tag, then paused.

“No,” I remarked. “It’s gonna take a monster to bring down a monster like X.”

“Then, stand aside!” said Godzilla. He performed his drop kick and toppled X. X got really mad and started punching repeatedly. Godzilla got away from the man, readjusting his jaw. “Xiliens are similar to humans,” mused Godzilla to X. “The average man can’t make a dent in me, so how did you dislocate my jaw?”

“How is he talking normally?” asked Lacey.

“If he IS similar to humans,” continued Batman, “Godzilla should be slurred after a jaw dislocation.”

“He has something called RG-1 cells,” I explained, “or Regenerator G-1 cells.”

“Judging by the name alone,” guessed Batman, “he can repair damaged tissue at an accelerated rate.”

“Exactly,” I confirmed. “Although, in Japan, we call them Organizer G-1 cells.”

“On the topic of biology,” remarked Godzilla, “on the rare occasion I’m allowed to hit a guy, they crumple in a heap after two punches. How are you still standing?”

“You assume me to be the average Xilien,” hissed X. He went Keizer again and decked Godzilla. Soon, it went into a full-blown brawl. Just then, X’s watch beeped and spat an object out to Heather. She grabbed it and grinned.

“That’s all five!” she laughed.

“What?!” I yelped.

“I finally have the four Apocalypse Dial parts and the belt!” replied Heather. “Apocalypse’s power is mine!” She then got out of my grip and fled through a portal.

“NO!” I screamed, the implications hitting me. If she got all four Dial parts and the belt, I think I can safely say the others failed as well. “DAMNATION!” I shouted.

“Easy, kitty,” assured 70-year-old me.

“EASY?!” I roared, pointing a hairy finger at her. I was turning back into Tora-Onna. “THAT MONSTER JUST TOOK OFF WITH A MEANS TO GET LACEY’S POWER AND YOU’RE TELLING ME TO TAKE IT EASY?!”

“Because it will work out in the long run,” assured 70-year-old me. “Lacey’s DNA is the default.”

“How does that…that…that…that may have been Heather’s biggest mistake yet!” I realized.

“I don’t follow,” remarked Lacey.

“Your DNA is locked into the Apocalypse Driver’s systems,” I clarified. “With a ghost in possession of its power, the device will think it’s you and make your body!”

“That’s right, the Reconstitution Function!” recalled Lacey. “In the event my body gets destroyed!”

“So, Heather’s going to look like Lacey?” asked Batman.

“More like a damaged clone of me,” replied Lacey.

“I guess that’s the reason why my future came to help,” I mused.

“What future?!” roared X as he tossed Godzilla. Godzilla soon steadied himself and got into a fighting stance. “At the moment,” growled X, “I’d say it’s unknown! Like an X-Factor!” Godzilla seemed to be hit with some idea.

“X-Factor,” he muttered. “Unknown…no…no, it can’t be!” X then took off his watch.

“Genetic dampener offline,” reported the watch before X stomped on it. His shoulders then bulked up, his eyes went red, and a tail came out. I then realized what got Godzilla so spooked.

“Monster X!” I realized. X turned towards us with an evil grin. “But…but Godzilla fried you!”

“A bit of me survived and the Xiliens reforged me,” explained X. “I was then placed in cold storage after Controller 0-1-2 was selected! She didn’t find my desire to return here and squash you agreeable, since she found an “innovative and creative” solution to her people’s problem. I was kept locked up the entire time! After breaking out, I took a genetic dampener and hid myself among the Xiliens. Over time, I gathered people to my cause, people dissatisfied with the current condition and wanted to invade Earth. I got us a ship and, well, the rest is history.”

“Yeah, you hired three humans to fix your Youfoe!” replied Larry.

“Youfoe is something that you say to your enemy,” corrected Moe. “THAT was a SAUCER we crashed!”

“Saucer?” asked Curly. “That’s something you put a teacup on!” That prompted a slap from Moe.

“Did you just identify yourselves as humans?!” asked X.

“Yeah, that was your first mistake, believing us!” taunted Moe.

“Guys,” gulped Godzilla, “you REALLY want to stop!”

“What’s the matter with you?” asked Lacey.

“That thing nearly killed me at the end of the Millennium Wars!” replied Godzilla, referring to the events of Godzilla: Final Wars.

“And now, we’re right where I need to be,” growled X. “After a little growth spurt, SpaceGodzilla, Gigan, and I will conquer this world and make a new one where humans are nonexistent! A dead rock orbiting an unfeeling sun!”

“That wasn’t our deal!” shouted a voice. We turned to see SpaceGodzilla and Gigan coming out. Gigan had his hooks ready. “I’m supposed to rule this planet,” snarled SpaceGodzilla, “a LIVING planet! NOT A LIFELESS HUSK!”

“Your desires are irrelevant,” dismissed X. “If you will not take this chance, then you and Gigan will have served your purpose. Find another world to rule.” SpaceGodzilla charged at X who back-handed him, then used some sort of remote to bathe himself, SpaceGodzilla, and Gigan in some sort of light. That light…was not good. The Kaiju-men grew, and morphed, and changed, until they were back in their monster forms. Gigan took the appearance he had in Final Wars. Monster X was about to level a building when he got a tail smack from SpaceGodzilla. Gigan then fired his cables and wrapped them around Monster X. He then activated the Buzzsaw and pulled Monster X towards him. The damage was awful.

“I just received word,” reported Kiryu. “We’re to utilize our Kaiju-Riser.”

“Your what?” I asked.

“In the event any evil monster regains their original form,” explained Biollante, “a Kaiju-Riser is to be used to return any good monster to THEIR original form and combat the threat.”

“In other words,” said Godzilla as a primal grin crossed his face, “it’s back to basics!” His grin faded. “Unless the U.N. has something against ME getting into the fight!”

“Are you kidding?” asked Kiryu. “The Japanese delegation wouldn’t go through with the Kaiju-Riser in this instance unless YOU were the one to permanently put Gigan and SpaceGodzilla down.”

“You mean…turn them into ash?!” said Godzilla happily.

“I have their death warrants right here,” replied Kiryu as he tapped his brain. We then heard jets. We looked up to see a pair of fighter jets carrying Kiryu’s big Godzilla-like body. One of the jets then bathed the area in light.

“This is it!” cheered Godzilla as the changes started coming. His mouth and nose became a large snout. His skin was replaced by charcoal grey scales. His eyes moved outwards a little. His pinkies sunk in. His legs became more trunk-like as his mass shifted down a little. He grew up to his full height of 150 meters. Mothra’s head tilted up as it morphed into her monster head. Her arms shrunk in and her legs made up her abdomen. Her insect legs came out and she grew to her full length of 72 meters. Biollante’s arms separated into vines with Venus fly-trap mouths. Her human skin was replaced by layers of green plant matter as her rose wilted. Her mouth extended to crocodile lengths and was filled with teeth! She grew upwards to her height of 120 meters. Zilla hunched over as his lower jaw got bigger and his upper jaw extended. He became covered in charcoal grey scales as his pinkies shrunk in and he became more T-Rex like. He was the runt at a height of 55 meters. King Ghidorah’s arms went over his head as the hands became dragon heads. His middle neck stretched upwards and his head became a dragon one. His legs became trunk-like as he was covered in gold scales and grew to become Godzilla’s height.

“Success!” I called. I shook hands with the Stooges, Lacey, Batman, Godzilla, and…wait a minute. Who did I shake hands with last? I turned to Godzilla and…oh no. Godzilla and I were literally seeing eye to eye! I heard everyone gasp in surprise! We were Kaiju sized!

“I will admit,” muttered 70-year-old me, “I forgot this bit.”

“And we’re complaining…why?” asked Lacey. I opened my mouth, then shut it as I realized there was no reason to complain.

“Quick question,” I asked 70-year-old me, “do I need to use Tora-Onna?”

“Nah,” replied 70-year-old me. “The belts are repaired. You can use your Rider mode.” Godzilla gave a confused grunt.

“You’ll see,” I assured. 70-year-old me and I got our i.d tags out and Lacey got her hand on the dial. I then noticed 70-year-old me had a blue ring around the tag reader in the center of her belt. It looked almost the ring of the Gateway on Vorton, but with eight Keystones instead of five. “Nice belt,” I commented.

“Oh, this old thing?” asked 70-year-old me. “It’s just something you’ll pick up after…never mind, I said too much.”

“All right, then,” I declared. “Henshin!”

“Henshin!” announced Lacey.

“Henshin!” called 70-year-old me. We all then went into our Rider forms.

“What the?!” yelped Moe. Larry jumped into Curly’s arms. The Kaiju made confused noises as well as surprised ones.

“Never mind that,” I replied. Kiryu’s big body’s eyes then started glowing yellow. “Are we all ready?” I asked. Everyone gave confirmation noises. “Then, Godzilla-san, lead the way!” Godzilla stamped his foot and gave a challenge roar. Monster X, Gigan, and SpaceGodzilla heard and gave of roars of defiance. That was the cue as we charged towards the evil Kaiju. They charged at us as well and we met in the middle. SpaceGodzilla quickly made a crystal fortress. The Stooges jumped the crystals and started whacking SpaceGodzilla. Curly managed to smack his snout down. SpaceGodzilla threw the Stooges off of him and he levitated Curly. Curly was calling for help, even when he was placed in a ring of crystals.

“HEY MOE! HEY LARRY!” cried Curly. “I’M SURROUNDED! GET ME OUT!” His hands went through the spaces the crystals made.

“Hold on, kid!” called Moe. “We’ll have you out!” They grabbed his hands. “Ready! Pull! Heave!”

“Ho!” shouted Larry as they pulled.

“Heave!” commanded Moe.

“Ho!” replied Larry as they pulled again.

“Just a second!” called 70-year-old me. “I got this.” She drew out a gold i.d tag! She then swapped i.d tags.

“Harry Potter Steel!” announced her belt in its original voice. The wardrobe closed, then faded to reveal her in armor based off of Harry Potter in his school uniform!

“You visited Harry’s world?!” I breathed.

“Toured Hogwarts!” cheered 70-year-old me.

“Cool!” I called. 70-year-old me drew her sword and pointed it at Curly.

“Take it easy now!” he yelped, fearing the worst.

“Wingardium Leviosa!” chanted 70-year-old me as she swished her sword, then flicked it. She then raised Curly out of the crystal prison. Curly yelped as he came out. His friends then brushed him off.

“Easy kid! Easy!” assured Moe. SpaceGodzilla roared in frustration. He then readied his deadly Corona Beam but was interrupted by Zilla popping out of the ground and sucker-punching him. A light then traveled up Zilla’s spines as he fired green flames from his mouth. It annoyed SpaceGodzilla but didn’t hurt him.

“The shoulders!” I shouted. “Smash the shoulder crystals!” Zilla nodded and started smashing his hands on them. They were cracking, but at a slow rate. The Stooges joined in and accelerated the cracking. Soon, they shattered! SpaceGodzilla roared in pain, then focused his rage on Zilla. Zilla quickly dug a hole and disappeared under the streets. SpaceGodzilla looked around and Biollante took her chance. She fired her corrosive sap and burned him. SpaceGodzilla turned and roared at her, but Biollante gave a roar of defiance. SpaceGodzilla charged but was ensnared by her vines and tossed onto a crystal, impaling him. He gave a dying roar, became light particles, and reassembled in his Kaiju-man form, but with a hole in his chest. SpaceGodzilla was dead. Zilla popped up and joined Biollante in a victory roar.

“Don’t celebrate just yet,” I replied as Gigan took a swipe at me. I ducked but was hit by his laser vision. Randy then leapt onto Gigan’s shoulders and slammed his fist on his head. He then started shaking his hand in pain as Gigan tossed him off. Mothra then grabbed him and flew through the air with him in her grasp. She was gonna throw him into a building, but Gigan took control of the flight pattern and went upwards. He then cut his means of propulsion and put his back to the ground. Mothra was going to be crushed! King Ghidorah helped her out by having his left head chomp on Gigan’s tail. Mothra let go of Gigan as he was thrown to the ground. King Ghidorah was about to fire his gravity bolts when cables wrapped around the left and right neck. Gigan got up and started pulling King Ghidorah towards him, the buzz saw on his front spinning. Gigan has been known as a sadist and a lunatic. If he had human features right now, a wicked grin would be crossing his face. I stepped in and severed the cables with my blade. “Ghidorah! Duck!” I called. King Ghidorah ducked his heads down. “Dai Super Charge!” I announced. As the armor flew, some hit Monster X on the head. The rest hit the Stooges.

“Hey!” snapped Moe. “Why don’t you call your shots?!” Gigan then fired new cables at me, but I grabbed them and started spinning. I spun so fast, Gigan was taken into the air. He was screeching at me.

“What’s that?” I called. “Let go? Okay!” I released the cables and Gigan flew into one of the crystal towers. It crumbled and landed on him, crushing him. He turned into light particles and reassembled into his smaller form, next to SpaceGodzilla’s corpse. Gigan had fallen. “That’s two,” I counted. “Let’s help Godzilla!” Godzilla, Batman, Kiryu, and Apocalypse were all on top of Monster X. He wasn’t taking it well, so we swarmed him. He was a match for us and threw us all off. Batman fired his grapple gun around his legs. Monster X then fell onto his hands.  “That was a mistake,” I gulped.

“When is it a mistake to topple a monster?” asked Batman.

“When getting on his hands allows him to turn into a quadrupedal, three headed, winged monster!” answered Apocalypse. Monster X’s arms then turned into trunk-like feet as wings sprouted from his back. The neck elongated as the head became dragon like. Two more heads grew from the shoulders as the wings spread. Monster X had just become Keizer Ghidorah! He fired gravity beams as Godzilla fired his atomic breath. Godzilla’s beam was overpowered as he was blown back. Keizer Ghidorah ran forward and bit down on Godzilla. He was draining him again!

“GET OFF OF HIM!” I roared as I leapt onto Keizer Ghidorah. He flung me off and then flung the drained Godzilla onto me. At that point, everyone shrunk down. We were human-sized again and Keizer Ghidorah was mocking us.

“Look at you all,” he taunted in our heads. “Pathetic ants beneath my feet. Not even the clone and our cyborg could defeat me. It took a maser cannon to charge you, Godzilla. Now, there is none. You have nothing to help you.”

“Not…true!” grunted Godzilla. It was then that I saw orange markings on him. I then remembered his predecessor doing something like this, but not by choice.

“Godzilla, this is all involuntary, right?!” I gulped.

“Oh no, unlike my predecessor,” replied Godzilla. “I purposely put myself in my Burning State.”

“But, that will put you into meltdown!” I cried. “And there aren’t any freezer cannons around to stop you from destroying this place!”

“I have an idea,” assured Godzilla. “Trust me. If the forecast is right…” a crack of thunder interrupted him. “…And it is.” The rain then came down. It was followed by flashes of lightning. “Step back,” advised Godzilla. I did so and lightning struck his spines repeatedly.

“Lightning never strikes him unless…” I then realized his plan. “He’s not turning himself into an atom bomb, he’s turning himself into an EMP blaster!” I said. His spines went white and the orange markings died down. He aimed at Keizer Ghidorah and fired! The electricity and radiation ravaged Keizer Ghidorah as he shrunk down into his Kaiju-man form. It looked similar to King Ghidorah.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” he roared.

“I combined the lightning I attracted and stored with a heart I was putting into meltdown,” answered Godzilla. “I then channeled it like my Spiral Red Atomic Blast. That got me safely out of my Burning State and cooled me off.”

“But, with the resulting radiation…!” cried Keizer Ghidorah.

“You’re now locked in your Kaiju-man form,” responded Kiryu as his humanoid robot body jumped down from his giant one. “Clever move, I need to utilize it.”

“You stupid lizard! I’LL KILL YOU!” roared Keizer Ghidorah. Godzilla gave a grunt as Keizer Ghidorah charged at him. They locked hands and tried to overpower each other.

“Hold on!” cried a voice. Godzilla and Keizer Ghidorah were tossed aside by my 200-year-old self! “You whipper-snappers can’t do anything right, can you?!” she snapped.

“Whipper-snappers?” I protested.

“I always wanted to say that,” sighed 200-year-old me. “Hey, X! I brought someone with me.” She moved aside to reveal a woman in Xilien clothes. Keizer Ghidorah’s eyes went wide.

“No! You didn’t!” he yelped.

“Who’s she?” asked Godzilla.

“Karna!” replied X.

“You bet; it is!” hissed the Xilien woman. “Karna, Controller 0-1-2 of Planet X. I’ve heard about the whole situation from Queen Megumi’s future. It seemed too outlandish, but now that I see the destruction that was wrought, I see otherwise. Godzilla, making an EMP blast like that would have ruptured your heart!”

“Listen, lady,” snarled Godzilla, “I was trying to…”

“Save it,” interrupted Karna. “I know. The genetic jigsaw puzzle here was sore about losing to you after our previous invasion! X, I warned you that an invasion was ill-advised. You ignored me!”

“I will NOT live knowing that a planet and monster that was behind my downfall still exists!” roared Keizer Ghidorah. “If I cannot destroy Godzilla, I will destroy this insignificant rock!”

“I told you, revenge is destructive all around!” shouted Karna. “You could have destabilized the peace we Xiliens finally achieved!”

“Wait, are you just doing this for political gain?” I asked.

“If you wish to paint that kind of selfish picture, then yes,” replied Karna. “We finally terraformed our planet to look similar to yours and now no longer need to scavenge other worlds for resources. Nor do we need to rely on computers to run our lives. This nitwit here hated the fact that our world looked like Earth as it reminded him of his defeat here. So, he gathered other Xiliens that hated the current lifestyle we hold dear and took a ship to settle scores with Godzilla.”

“His existence is unbearable!” wailed Keizer Ghidorah.

“I hear THAT from select humans,” muttered Godzilla.

“Monster X,” declared Karna, “through your act of rebellion, you have proven yourself to be a failure in the cosmos.” She then whipped out a gun and fired a laser at him. His monstrous parts shrunk into his flesh and he was returned to his Xilien form. “You shall remain here, on this world, in a weaker form.”

“No! You can’t!” cried X.

“Godzilla, he’s yours to deal with,” declared Karna.

“Oh, I have something special in mind!” snarled Godzilla. X backed away, scared. Godzilla strode forward, raised his hand…and slapped handcuffs on X! “X, you’re under arrest for assault on humans and unauthorized reversion to your monster form!” declared Godzilla. X was trembling in fury.

“I HATE YOU!” roared X as the G.D.F took him away.

“That was…surprisingly mature of you,” I remarked.

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” replied Godzilla. “I only did it because killing a human or Xilien is no challenge.”

“Sure, put on the tough guy act,” I countered. The rain had finally died. “Typical,” I sighed. “We save the day and the weather clears up.” Godzilla turned to the sun and let out a roar of victory.

“Well, we didn’t complete our original objective,” observed Batman. “Let’s get back to Vorton.”

“Good idea,” I agreed. “X-PO, we need a rift home.”

“You’re about to see a gloomy sight,” replied X-PO. A portal opened for us.

“You coming?” I asked Godzilla.

“Unfortunately,” rumbled Godzilla, “I must decline. The human I imprinted on, Gojo Azusa, is expecting me after the fight. I can’t forget my mother.”

“Anyone else?” I asked the other Kaiju-men.

“Biollante and I have had too many dates called off,” replied Zilla.

“We’re having one tonight!” declared Biollante.

“I just recently laid my eggs,” answered Mothra.

“I’m still needed in the Kaiju-men Police Force,” replied King Ghidorah.

“And I need an overhaul for both of my bodies,” answered Kiryu.

“Hey, Kiryu,” called a fighter pilot. “As long as you’re smart again, I have a question. With the old Kaiju-Riser, I could make only the Kaiju-men grow, practically every time! If you’re such a genius…!”

“I AM a genius,” snarled Kiryu, “but, I expected more control from your fat fingers!” The pilot looked at his hands.

“They’re proportional to me,” he replied.

“Well, I got the data from your plane’s black box,” snapped Kiryu. “Quit jabbing the controls so hard! The impact sets the Riser function to all organics in the radius of the beam!”

“…Oops,” muttered the pilot. “Sorry.”

“So THAT’S why Godzilla and I could see eye to eye!” I realized. “Well, that was a narrow escape, but I have to take the Stooges back home.”

“Hey, maybe you can tell us about these candies!” called Curly. He had a bag full of something. He fished an object out and was about to eat it! It was a purple stud!

“GIMME THAT!” I snapped as I swiped the bag and stud.

“Don’t be greedy!” called Curly. “There’s plenty for everybody!”

“You twit, you were about to eat money!” I snarled.

“Money?!” yelped Moe.

“Yeah, these are studs, our main currency,” I answered. “Vortoranii, how much is in here?”

“429,000,” counted Vortoranii.

“Putting our new total at…” I started doing some math, “…3,401,000 studs.”

“And, at the least value, a 10 value stud is the equivalent of $500,” replied Vortoranii. “So, at the moment, we have $170,050,000.”

“Wait, we’re millionaires?!” I yelped.

“Yeah, and they can be converted to your universe’s cash,” answered Vortoranii. “Any form of cash, Yen, Euro, Australian Dollar, U.S. dollar, you name it.”

“You imbecile!” snapped Moe to Curly. “You were about to eat money!” He was about to poke Curly’s eyes, but Curly put his hand between his eyes. Moe then slapped Curly, resulting in Curly holding that area, then Moe poked his eyes.

“Hey, let him alone!” protested Larry.

“What are you butting in for?!” snarled Moe. He then smacked Larry’s forehead, the force knocking him into the portal. “HEY, WAIT!” called Moe as he went after Larry. Curly was trying to hit on Mothra. Moe came up behind him. “Grab your ear,” he commanded. Curly did so and Moe yanked on Curly’s arm, dragging him into the portal and following him shortly.

“…Sorry,” I said to Mothra. “Those nitwits hit on any pretty girl.”

“Even if they’re spoken for?” asked Mothra. She showed a ring on her finger. “Like myself, Mrs. Anguirus?”

“Anguirus?!” I yelped. “You married him?!”

“Sure did,” replied Mothra. “He’s living on Infant Island with me.”

“Well, congratulations!” I cheered. “How is…?”

“HEY!” called 70-year-old me. “Everybody else already left! Hurry up!” She was right!

“Oh, crap! Gotta go!” I answered. “I hope we meet again, Godzilla! Maybe we can spar! Sayonara!” I then followed 70-year-old me and the portal shut while Godzilla gave a farewell roar.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 55

Everything was set. Our teams assembled in the Gateway room. I was giddy with excitement. Lacey kept a hand on my shoulder to calm me down. Batman didn’t understand why I was excited. “Come on, Batman, don’t tell me you never saw a Godzilla movie!” I giggled.

“I wasn’t pleased by the lizard,” he rasped. “Why would a mutant iguana want to stomp around Manhattan?”

“Not Zilla! Godzilla!” I protested. “Your first introduction to the Godzilla franchise was the 1998 movie?!”

“Why would Alfred let you watch that?!” asked Lacey. Batman rolled his eyes…I think…they’re just white holes! In any case, I led the way and we went through the rift to arrive in Tokyo! I looked up to see if any monsters were stomping around yet. …Nothing. Not a single scale of the big guy.

“Aw,” I moaned. I found a newsstand and paid for the paper. The man gave a grin as I looked through for any sighting of Godzilla.

“One of his fans?” he asked. “I never understood why some kids would like him, considering he’s destroyed Japan numerous times.”

“He’s also saved our people,” I countered.

“At the cost of trillions in terms of property damage,” argued the newsstand owner. He then moved his gaze somewhere else and looked on in fear. “Er, you might want to leave!”

“Why?” I asked. “If it’s a bad guy, I can stop him.”

“Not this one!” yelped the owner. He then got out at least 10,000 Yen. A well-dressed man came up. His eyes gleamed and he cracked a friendly smile.

“Ah, that’s right, it’s payday, no?” remembered the man. He took the money. “Interesting that you were so prompt, still, pleasure doing business with you.” He then saw me and my team. “Ah, new citizens? Good. 10,000 Yen every 2 months.”

“For what?!” I asked.

“A protection racket,” guessed Batman. “Specifically, protection from you and your goons.”

“Goons?!” snapped the man, feigning offense. “Tsk, tsk, tsk, that’s just mean to call my employees ‘goons’. Just for that, 30,000 Yen a month so they can get proper restitution from you insulting them.”

“There’s a saying in America,” I replied. I was quoting from The Three Stooges. “Millions for defense, but not one penny for tribute!”

“Are…you sure…you want to go down that path?” asked the man as he cracked his knuckles.

“I’m not afraid of a mere mobster!” I hissed.

“Careful,” warned Batman.

“Mobster?” asked the man. “No, monster.”

“Yeah, you’re a hulking man, but I’ve taken down bigger,” I boasted.

“Really?” quizzed the man, not believing me. “When?”

“A giant elephant monster for starters,” I replied. The guy probably wouldn’t know an Oliphaunt if it sat on him. I drew out my i.d tag. “You should be small potatoes compared to what I’ve faced.”

“What are…potatoes?” asked the man.

“…Starchy, root vegetable?” I ventured.

“Your words make no sense,” sighed the man. He then raised a gloved fist.

“Henshin!” I announced as I ducked. I then rolled and went through the armor circle, becoming Kamen Rider Royal. The man was surprised.

“Impossible!” he breathed.

“Impressed?” I asked. He then smirked.

“You’re more than meets the eye,” he said. He then grabbed me, Lacey, and Batman. “Let’s see what you’re made of.” He then jumped to the top of a building and threw us down on the roof. “Away from prying human eyes,” remarked the man. He got into a fighting stance. I drew my sword and leveled it at the man. This was no ordinary human. The guy charged. Foolish error, I had a sword. I slashed across the guy’s face.

“Give up?” I asked.

“Hardly,” laughed the man. His face had no wound!

“Okay, I KNOW my sword made contact!” I yelped.

“It did,” remarked the man.

“Guys, use whatever force necessary to bring him down, but do NOT kill him! I want answers!” I ordered. Batman and Lacey nodded. Lacey then got ready.

“Henshin!” she announced. I then saw her transform and become Kamen Rider Apocalypse. She then set her belt’s dial to a scythe-like symbol.

“Death Scythe!” called the belt. Apocalypse then chopped into him. He flinched but knocked her off. I saw the wounds stitch themselves up and heal with no scar tissue.

“Nice try!” laughed the man.

“Okay, at worst, you should be paralyzed in pain!” protested Apocalypse.

“Oh, it hurts, believe me!” growled the man.

“All right, that’s it!” I snarled. I then grappled with the man. “Who are you?!” I then got his i.d tag. “Well now,” I chuckled, “let’s find out.” The man was confused. I then swapped my i.d tag for his. The announcement of the Steel Change surprised me.

“SpaceGodzilla Steel!” announced Vortoranii.

“What?!” I yelped. The wardrobe changed my armor. I could see something on my shoulders from my peripheral vision. I looked down my front to see a red abdomen and navy-blue armor. I felt a tail from the base of my spine and something was going up my back. I felt around my helmet to find a horn on top. I then proceeded to whack the guy’s fedora off to find the same horn. He seemed to panic.

“No! Give it back!” he cried. All of a sudden, something was swarming us! They were air drones with weapons.

“SPACEGODZILLA! FREEZE!” yelled one of the drones. “SURRENDER! YOU CANNOT ESCAPE!”

“Damn you!” roared the man. He then punched the roof, making crystals grow, and chucking three of them at our heads, making us black out.


Wind brushed past my face, waking me up. It must have been the AC as, when my vision cleared, I saw walls. I felt something constricting me below my shoulders and glanced down, hoping to see something to kick away. No such luck as I was trapped in crystal. “Er, this isn’t Jennamite, is it?” I asked, worried that I was trapped in Avatar: The Last Airbender’s world instead of my intended giant monster infested destination.

“I don’t know what this ‘Jennamite’ is,” hissed a voice, “but I can assure you it isn’t that.” A figure stepped out of the shadows. I heard groans of awakening and saw Batman and Lacey shake their heads clear. Lacey then got a good look at the figure.

“Oh, hi, evil mutant mobster!” she quipped. “…Wait, I’m probably still dizzy from the flying crystal at my face, but did Megumi’s belt just call you SpaceGodzilla?”

“It did,” replied the man. I was confused.

“Gotta say, SG, you’re looking a little shorter than I remember,” I remarked.

“Only thanks to you apes causing my decreased height!” snarled the apparent Godzilla Space Clone turned human.

“I’m…not up to speed,” I answered. “How are you human?”

“Human after a fashion,” replied SpaceGodzilla. I then noticed that the monster’s signature shoulder crystals were poking through the jacket he was wearing.

“So, what happened?” I asked.

“Given that you’re not from our universe, I think explanations are in order,” mused SpaceGodzilla.

“What?!” I yelped.

“Tell me, where are your belts?” asked SpaceGodzilla. I then looked down and tried to find it as best I could, given that I was stuck in crystals that messed with my vision.

“On that table!” called Batman. Lacey and I turned to see my Supreme Vortex Driver and Lacey’s Apocalypse Driver being dissected! The man doing the dissecting was in leather, had cybernetic hands, and I saw a red visor over his eyes when he turned to SpaceGodzilla.

“Confirmed,” reported the man. “These people are extradimensional.”

“Thank you, Gigan,” replied SpaceGodzilla. At that point, Lacey and I started laughing. “And, WHAT, may I ask, is so funny?” asked SpaceGodzilla.

“You got the Cyborg Space Chicken on your side?!” I howled in laughter. Gigan then fiddled with the controls on his arms and the hands were replaced with the hooks he was known for. He slashed across my face.

“Keep laughing,” he hissed.

“I don’t fear you!” I snarled. “You’ve proven to be a coward!” He slashed across my face again.

“And YOU, ape, are proving to be a major annoyance!” growled Gigan.

“Gigan, enough,” commanded SpaceGodzilla. Gigan backed off and used a hook’s tip to press a button on his arm and restore the hands. “Now, explanations about my species current…circumstances.”

“All monsters are human now?” I asked.

“Yes,” replied SpaceGodzilla. “The humans’ top geneticists had discovered that they could remove certain base pairs from our DNA. I say certain base pairs, because they also discovered that some monsters, like Anguirus, cannot survive without the necessary base pairs, M-base being chief among them. The United Nations saw a way to weaponize it and lured us to an all-out slugfest which they took advantage of and removed those base pairs that gave us our appearance. We were, for all intents and purposes, human. However, they didn’t count on the fact that those same base pairs they couldn’t remove determined our powers. They eventually contained us and instituted the Kaiju Human Act. It was designed to keep tabs on all monsters turned humans. The drones are to keep unruly Kaiju-men, as Japan and, eventually, the rest of the world has called us, in check. Dangerous Kaiju-men, like myself and Godzilla, are on a more active watch while others, like that genetic accident of a butterfly…”

“MOTHRA’S A MOTH!!” I shouted.

“Whatever,” dismissed SpaceGodzilla. “Kaiju-men like her are gainfully employed. She, herself, is working as a liaison with the United Nations. Why she scrapes to you apes when she has unbelievable power is beyond my comprehension!”

“Because she actually gives a damn about us!” I snarled. I then noticed that the room had gotten darker. I looked down to see my prison lose its luster. I wiggled a bit and the crystals shattered. I then freed Lacey and Batman and we got into a brawl with the two monsters turned humans. Lacey and I gathered up our currently disassembled belts and we took off like Battra out of Hell if I may mangle the expression. We escaped some sort of bunker and were accosted by the JSDF, the Japan Self-Defense Forces, our united military forces. “Er, you’ll forgive us if we don’t put our hands up!” I quipped. The commanding officer, an elderly man, snapped his fingers and pointed to a soldier. The soldier grabbed some sort of scanner and ran it over us. He concluded scans after a minute while I looked back to make sure SpaceGodzilla and Gigan weren’t following us.

“They have the same bases to their chromosomes as us,” reported the soldier. “They’re all human.” The commanding officer waved us over.

“Gladly!” I thought as we took up their offer. I then heard footsteps, heavy ones, and whirled to see SpaceGodzilla and Gigan come out.

“These humans aren’t worth it,” boomed the commanding officer. “Take some advice from someone who was led down that path and cease this nonsense!”

“This does not concern you!” roared SpaceGodzilla. He generated crystals and threw them at the commanding officer. He jumped high for any human and landed in front of the two Kaiju-men.

“I can’t let you hurt them in your pointless quest to make us the only life-form!” declared the man.

“Ghidrah, it’s not up to you anymore!” shrieked Gigan. The man, Ghidrah, as he was called, then revealed his bat-like wings, his twin tails, and elaborate hand shapes. They looked like Eastern Dragon heads. He then gave off a roar that only one Kaiju could roar, the roar of a flying hydra monster!

“King Ghidorah!” I breathed. “He’s here!” SpaceGodzilla and Gigan then gave off their monster roars and charged at King Ghidorah! Ghidorah then fired electric blasts from his hands at Gigan. Gigan took the brunt of it, then activated his hooks, charging in and slashing at Ghidorah. SpaceGodzilla then generated crystals and fired on the soldiers. “That’s it!” I snapped. “Hen…SHIMATTA!”

“Oh yeah, our belts were taken apart,” sighed Lacey.

“There IS another option,” mused Batman.

“Bad idea!” I countered, getting where Batman was going. “Tora-Onna will put the soldiers in a panic. I’d rather keep that side in reserve.”

“Well, if you’re not gonna fight, I am!” rasped Batman as he decked Gigan. Gigan didn’t like that as he fired his harpoon cables at Batman. Batman rolled out of the way and Gigan’s harpoons buried themselves in the ground.

“What are you waiting for?!” asked Lacey as she snapped her fingers and changed her outfit to another one. This one had a reasonable skirt and blue petticoat size, a shirt with white fluff around the neck and arms, the skirt sporting white fluff at the hem and waist, purple tights, black, fingerless, forearm length gloves with the same white fluff at all openings, and black boots with a white strap and white fluff around the mouth of the boot. Her foot smashed into SpaceGodzilla’s crown. He started clutching it in pain.

“Should have hit somewhere else!” he snarled. His dorsal plates glowed, and the deadly Corona Beam came streaming out of his mouth. We rolled out of the way and made a run for it towards the soldiers.

“This is nuts!” I called.

“Will you make with the stripes already?!” snapped Batman.

“Why will you not listen to your friend?” asked a strange voice. It sounded like two women talking at once. I looked around but couldn’t find the source. “Down here!” called the voices again. This time, I found the source on the jeep’s wheel well. There, at their full height of 21 centimeters, dressed as island priestesses, were the Shobijin (Small Beauties), or the Cosmos, as some people address them. “Will you not assist your friends and use your monster form?” asked the Shobijin.

“Are you two nuts?!” I protested. “That’ll cause a panic among the people!”

“Is it the people you’re afraid for, or yourself?” asked the Shobijin. I then heard a loud chirp. Everyone looked up to the sky to see an island goddess with large moth wings, blue insect eyes, and a pair of fuzzy antennae on her forehead. She landed with grace and glared at SpaceGodzilla and Gigan, particularly Gigan. The wings folded around her like a cloak.

“Hello, Gigan,” she said softly. “I thought I made it clear to you that this planet is not to have you on its surface.”

“Like I’m gonna listen to a glorified bug that has to lay two of herself!” shrieked Gigan.

“Hey! Don’t be dissing Mothra!” I snapped.

“Thank you,” said the woman softly. She then put on a business manner. “SpaceGodzilla, Gigan, in the name of the United Nations and the Kaiju Human Act, you are under arrest for assaulting humans with intent to kill! We can do this the easy way, or the hard way!”

“We do not fear you!” declared SpaceGodzilla.

“You should,” warned Mothra. She unfolded her wings and started flapping them. A golden powder littered the area. SpaceGodzilla and Gigan started getting drowsy, then fell flat on their faces, snoring. Mothra slapped handcuffs on them and they were thrown in an armored truck. Mothra then turned to King Ghidorah. She gave a smirk.

“…They should fear you?!” asked King Ghidorah.

“I have sleep powder that can last for a hundred years,” answered Mothra. “Not a small nap to wake up from. Now, shall we head to base?” She invited us to her jeep, which we accepted.


The base we were taken to was a large one. The military welcomed us warmly. Mothra seemed to be a popular Kaiju-man. She reciprocated the welcome and led us to a room once we had a moment. Ghidorah followed us after SpaceGodzilla and Gigan were locked up. “As you can guess,” answered Mothra, “I’m Mothra, Guardian of Infant Island and friend to these two.” She gestured to the Shobijin on her desk. “And the man behind you is King Ghidorah.”

“Yes, I got that,” I replied. “I’m Megumi Hishikawa. This is Lacey Thanatos and Batman.”

“Hello!” called Lacey.

“Good to meet you,” rasped Batman.

“Now, pardon my asking,” I interjected, “but, didn’t King Ghidorah try and destroy this planet once upon a time?”

“Yes, and then protected it alongside Mothra and Baragon when Godzilla was possessed by the souls of Japan,” recalled Ghidorah.

“Being humanish has allowed King Ghidorah to understand the humans,” continued Mothra. “Now, a question for you. The data we recovered from SpaceGodzilla and Gigan said that you weren’t from our world.”

“And that data is, sadly, correct,” I replied.

“So, multiverse theory became multiverse principle,” mused Mothra.

“You’re familiar with the multiverse?” asked Batman.

“Despite appearances,” replied the Shobijin, “Mothra is familiar with the basics in science.”

“I’ve worked with Kiryu (Machine Dragon) a few times,” replied Mothra.

“Kiryu?” asked Batman.

“He’s mainly known as the current Mechagodzilla,” explained Mothra. “And we’re having a problem with him.”

“Has he gone rogue?” I asked.

“No, thankfully,” replied Ghidorah. “He currently lacks the mental power to do so.”

“Eh?” I quizzed.

“Follow me,” said Mothra as she placed the Shobijin on her shoulder. We all left the room and headed to where the Kaiju-men under her watch dwelt. It was a large room with a TV screen taking up the entire wall, some gaming systems, and a bank of computer consoles. I could swear I heard some childish laughing. I turned around to see a humanoid robot in silver, a helmet covering a mouth, spines running down the back, and yellow eyes and a tail. The robot had a childish expression. He was running around a pole with his other hand out and whapping a powerfully built man repeatedly. The sight made me clamp my mouth shut so my squee wouldn’t deafen everyone. The man had maple leaf spines, a tail, amber eyes, and claws on his fingers and toes! It’s him! It’s the King of the Monsters! The robot’s hand repeatedly whapping him was annoying him.

“Er, is that…Kiryu?” I muttered. The robot then laughed.

“Hey! Pull my finger!” he laughed. Something was seriously wrong.

“If only that were his normal brain talking,” snarled Godzilla. “Then I would get some satisfaction of hitting him!”

“I don’t…” I muttered.

“Kiryu has a primary and secondary computer like his large body’s pilots and Godzilla’s brains,” explained Mothra. “The primary brain handles the advanced cognitive functions while the secondary brain handles the basics.”

“How basic are we talking about?” I asked.

“It makes Megalon look like a genius,” growled Godzilla.

“So, what happened to the more advanced brain?” asked Lacey.

“Someone took it,” replied Ghidorah. “And…”

“You don’t know who,” guessed Batman.

“Happened to you before?” asked Mothra.

“More times than I can count,” remarked Batman. “Mind if I take a crack at finding it? I’ve had some experience finding missing computer brains.”

“Knock yourself out,” offered Ghidorah. Batman took over a console and started his search.

“Megumi, a question,” called Lacey as she summoned her usual school outfit. The Kaiju-men were startled.

“How can she move in that?!” whispered Godzilla to Mothra.

“I want to know myself,” muttered Mothra.

“What happened during the battle?” Lacey hissed to me. “You didn’t use Tora-Onna!” In all honesty, I should have figured THAT question would be asked.

“The Shobijin got it right,” I replied. “I AM afraid of Tora-Onna.”

“Why?” asked Batman as he worked.

“That…THING…is alien to me,” I gulped.

“But, you worked so hard to get her under control!” countered Lacey.

“I can vouch for that,” confirmed Batman.

“Tora-Onna was brought under Shocker Rift control, remember?” I reminded.

“You were told to snap your mother’s neck,” countered Batman. “You then disobeyed, snapped her handcuffs, and then proceeded to make Hiro blow up.”

“Guys, that thing where I was walking towards my mother,” I argued, “that was me about to obey Hiro. He’s got a grip on my mind, somehow, and staying in human form as long as possible is the best way to detain that grip.”

“That’s the problem with you humans,” scoffed Godzilla. “You spent so much time trying to deny the animal part of your brain that you forgot the advantages that part brings in combat.”

“Hey, don’t be hating on humans,” called a voice. Godzilla tensed up.

“Mothra, you didn’t ask for H.E.A.T to swing by, did you?” he asked.

“We need Dr. Tatopoulos’ help,” replied Mothra.

“I will NOT work with that tuna eating Yankī!” (a name the Japanese use for their delinquents) roared Godzilla.

“Who’s a delinquent?!” snarled the voice. We saw an American Kaiju-man come into view. He had spines that curved towards his head and…oh Lord…he’s wearing a Yankees hat! He was accompanied by a brunette man, a red-headed woman, a raven-haired woman, a heavy-set, bearded blonde man, and a Hispanic man. A wheeled robot came up.

“And the aforementioned Yankī arrives,” growled Godzilla. The American Kaiju-man, Zilla, from what I could see, snarled.

“And he’s a Yankees fan, why not!” I sighed. “Yankees suck! Go Red Sox!”

“You Sox fans are just jealous that the Yankees are better!” roared Zilla.

“Zilla Tatopoulos!” warned the brunette man. Zilla subsided like a child would with an irritated parent. The man then turned to us. “Please excuse my son, he can be a bit hot-headed. I’m Dr. Nick Tatopoulos.”

“I’m Dr. Elsie Chapman,” introduced the red-head.

“Dr. Mendel Craven,” answered the portly man.

“Randy Hernandez,” greeted the Hispanic man.

“Monique Dupre,” said the raven-haired woman, coldly. She spoke with a French accent.

“Wait, is that Batman?!” yelped Randy.

“The very same,” I replied. “I got him from his universe. I’m Megumi Hishikawa and this is Lacey Thanatos.”

“Hello!” called Lacey.

“What brings you here?” I asked.

“We got word that you guys needed help finding Kiryu’s brain,” answered Nick.

“That’s what we’re trying to do,” rasped Batman. “If there’s a technical person on your team, I would appreciate the help.”

“That would be Randy and myself,” answered Mendel. They sat down next to Batman and started work.

“So,” muttered Monique, “Mechagodzilla Mark III is missing his brain? When were you going to tell us?”

“It was going into the report,” assured Mothra. “We’ve just been…”

“Busy, yeah, the G.D.F is always busy,” interrupted Zilla. “But you guys are usually nice enough to tell the Kaiju-men Watch Committee when the report is delayed due to something coming up.”

“Bureaucracy is more important than protecting the apes?” asked Godzilla.

“No,” answered Ghidorah. “Zilla has a point, it WAS a lack of professional courtesy.”

“I’m sure it can be rectified easily,” I mused.

“True, but it’s still annoying for both parties,” replied Zilla. “H.E.A.T’s been busy too. We’re trying to find Ts-eh-Go, the mutant Scorpion. He’s busted out of Kaiju Max, our top Kaiju-men prison.”

“If someone like him can break out,” growled Godzilla, “then it just proves that rehabilitation is the worst idea. Perhaps we should get rid of a certain pair of Kaiju-men in our hold.”

“We are human to a certain extent,” chirped Mothra. “Thus, we are subject to human laws. That includes ALL Kaiju-men having a fair trial.”

“Those two have tried to destroy our world!” snarled Godzilla.

“Killing is the easy way out,” hissed Batman.

“Not one of you nitwits!” roared Godzilla. “The only way to ensure your enemies’ defeat is their destruction!”

“Which begets more enemies,” countered Batman.

“I…kind of…have to agree with Big G here,” sighed Zilla.

“Zilla,” protested Nick.

“You didn’t object when I roasted Queen Bee!” snapped Zilla.

“Queen Bee?” I asked

“A Mutated Queen Bee,” explained Mendel. “It was terraforming a resort to make room for her hive. Zilla roasted her by…AHA!”

“What?” asked Godzilla.

“Found it!” called Mendel.

“You…found it?!” said Godzilla in disbelief.

“Kiryu’s brain?” I asked.

“It uses an algorithm similar to my Bat-computer,” remarked Batman, “albeit, more advanced. The G.D.F makes good hardware and software. His brain is located somewhere in geostationary orbit around Osaka.”

“We’ve been trying to find it for months!!” snapped Godzilla.

“And this is why you should trust H.E.A.T,” boasted Nick.

“How are we going to get up there?!” asked King Ghidorah. “Fly?!”

“Did the winged Hydra monster say that?” I muttered.

“Neither he nor Mothra can get there,” answered Godzilla. “It’s too high.”

“The air is thinner up there,” supplied Mothra.

“But King Ghidorah flew through space!” I recalled.

“They’re part human,” reminded Lacey. “They need oxygen as much as we do.”

“Wait, there IS the Gotengo,” recalled Zilla.

“The Gotengo! Of course!” cheered Mothra. “And I know who to call!” She used a console and dialed a number. There was a dial tone for a few seconds, then a girl appeared on the screen. She had long, wavy, green hair adorned by a rose on the left side, a leafy green strapless dress, some pinkish red markings on her collarbone, long, green opera gloves with a slight vine appearance in the fingers, and tendrils with mouths around her workspace. I could guess who she was quickly.

“Biollante?!” I yelped. “But she’s an enemy!”

“WAS an enemy,” corrected Godzilla. “That human’s soul helped her settle things after our last battle.”

“So, Erika’s back?” I asked.

“Er, yes and no,” remarked Biollante. “I’m still a new life-form with my own feelings and experiences, but I remember Erika’s. Does that make sense?”

“Perfectly for me,” replied Lacey. Biollante arched an eyebrow. “I’ve dealt with dead things like that,” elaborated Lacey.

“She’s from another universe where the dead and living go to school together,” I explained. The explanation satisfied Biollante but was replaced by confusion at seeing me and Batman.

“They just helped us find Kiryu’s brain,” replied Mothra.

“Oh, thank you!” squealed Biollante with a big, fat grin. “Where is it?!”

“It’s in geostationary orbit around Osaka,” reported Mothra. “Can you get us the Gotengo?”

“Ooh,” winced Biollante. “That’s a problem. The Gotengo was decommissioned two months ago.”

“WHAT?!” we all yelled.

“Hold on!” called Biollante. “I didn’t say getting up there was impossible, just that you can’t use the original Gotengo. After the original was decommissioned, the UN made a new one and had Admiral Douglas Gordon in command of that ship. I’ll just call up the Admiral and we’ll get you up there.” She then stood up and I realized that, instead of human legs, she had four, large, trunk-like, greenish roots for movement. She turned and flicked a switch behind her, calling up a man of European stock.

“Biollante,” grunted the man. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Hi Admiral Gordon! We found Kiryu’s brain!” cheered Biollante. “Mothra and her friends need the Gotengo-A.”

“Just point me in the right direction and I’ll be there,” replied Admiral Gordon. “Gordon out.” The transmission ended and Biollante turned to us with a grin as bright as her food source.

“Well, looks like you guys get to rescue a brain!” giggled Biollante. “Bye!” She terminated communications.

“…Siblings,” muttered Godzilla.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 49

The portal opened in the sky and we landed with a thud! Ex-Aid landed on his head. “Itai!” (Ow!) he winced as picked himself up and massaged his head. We examined our surroundings.

“A race track?” muttered Wyldstyle. Three race cars zoomed by.

“Goodness!” called Gandalf. “They’re even faster than Wargs!”

“Move!” shouted Batman as the cars came around for another lap. He shoved us out of the way while he got ready to jump on the car being driven by the thief. The thief got out of the way as the flag indicated the end of the race.

“Players must beat record lap to win Gold Token,” said an announcer. One of the cars separated it’s rear and folded it down. The sides split away and let hands pop loose. The front flipped up and rotated to become a backpack and allowed a blue head with a purple helmet to pop out. This was Drag-Strip of the Stunticons, and he was mad!

“HOW CAN A FLESHLING BEAT ME?!” he shouted. The last car opened. It was done up in a European driver’s style with the driver on the right side of the car. The driver was a guy in a red suit done up like a race car and he had a tire going from the left shoulder to the right side. His helmet was like a Kamen Rider. The passenger was a pink-haired woman in a yellow outfit and skirt with pixels, buttons, and yellow petticoats. She wore a headpiece on the right side of her head that looked like a green speaker with a yellow pixel note with a green outline on it. She was arguing with the mystery Kamen Rider, er, Driver.

“Drive-san!” called Sengoku.

“Poppy!” cried Ex-Aid. The two people stopped arguing. The woman, Poppy, ran up to Ex-Aid and hugged him. The Kamen Driver, Drive, looked at Sengoku.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“I’m Hishikawa Hiroki,” introduced Sengoku as he used the Japanese name order, “Kamen Rider Sengoku! I can’t believe I’m talking to Tomari Shinnosuke, Kamen Rider Drive!”

“Kamen Rider?” I asked.

“What?” quizzed Drive.

“You have a car,” I observed.

“Well, you ride cars,” argued Drive.

“Yeah, but I just saw you come out of the driver’s seat,” I reminded.

“And being a stupid driver at that!” snapped Poppy. Drive turned on her.

“You were being a backseat driver!” argued Drive.

“I was in the passenger’s seat!” snarled Poppy.

“You still gave advice that I didn’t ask for!” shouted Drive.

“This is why I don’t drive, usually,” said Sonic to Mario.

“I can-a understand,” assured Mario.

“There’s only one problem here,” snarled Drag-Strip, “and it’s you fleshlings! I can’t win with you idiots harassing me!”

“We’re trying to win here!” roared Drive.

“I’M the only winner here!” argued Drag-Strip. “That walking fashion disaster said that this was a racing game called Super Sprint and racing is my thing! Now, step aside and let me win!”

“Might I interject?” asked Clash as she cancelled her transformation. Everyone turned to her.

“WHAT NOW?!” roared Drag-Strip. “What does a fish-lady know about this?!”

“Mermaid,” corrected Livia. Before Drag-Strip shrugged her off, Livia continued. “Look, our team needs that token the thief has. You guys want to beat his best time, if not win. I’m an expert at this game and I did some real racing.” That statement surprised me. “I’ve got an idea, but it needs teamwork and, Signore…er…”

“Drag-Strip,” introduced the Stunticon.

“Signore Drag-Strip, I’m gonna need to take the wheel as you seem to have forgotten some of the most important aspects of racing,” continued Livia.

“What are you talking about?!” snarled Drag-Strip. “I’m the fastest racer around!”

“What about split second decisions?” asked Livia. “What about maneuverability? What about knowing when to slam the brakes on? These are important too.” Drag-Strip’s visor flickered.

“What do you mean know when to slam the brakes on?!” he yelped. “It’s a race! You can’t put them on!”

“Let me take the wheel and I’ll show you what I mean,” offered Livia. “Besides, I can help you win. When you do, you don’t even need to give me credit.” Drag-Strip considered her words, then sighed and transformed.

“You better not screw me up!” he threatened. Livia took her hair flower and veil off, entered Drag-Strip, and set them on Drag-Strip’s floor as she buckled up.

“I’m surprised Decepticons have seat belts,” I mused.

“They’re useful for keeping prisoners,” chuckled Drag-Strip darkly.

“Charming,” snarked Livia. Drag-Strip was at the start line.

“Poppy, do you mind staying in the stands with us?” I asked.

“Why?!” wailed Poppy.

“You’re not an expert at racing games,” replied Para-DX. “Drive doesn’t need another annoyance.” Poppy gasped. She then looked down.

“…Pupepopasulk!” she mumbled.

“Parado!” protested Ex-Aid. He then went to Poppy. “Poppy, we can cheer them on together. It will help them win. Want to help?” Poppy looked up, then smiled.

“Right!” she declared. She then went to the stands with us as we cancelled our transformations aside from Drive as he moved his car to the start. The thief did so as well. The racers were ready.

“Not all players are ready,” called the announcer. Just then, I noticed Batman talking to Hiroki and Hiroki put the Batmobile at the start. Batman got in.

“Let’s drive,” he rasped.


This is it! I can’t wait! My ride grumbled. “I hate this. I hate this! I hate THIS! I HATE THIS!”

“Silenzio!” (Be quiet) I hissed. “We’ll take first place.” I released the brake a bit, causing Drag-Strip to move forward a centimeter. The thief flinched. Drive gave the hand motion that he was watching me. Batman did nothing.

“3! 2! 1! GO!” called the announcer. I hit the gas, then braked to turn right via drifting. The straightaway had a puddle near the end, so I drifted right again near the edge, making a complete 180 on the turn and went up the next straightaway, then drifted left 45 degrees. I then drifted right after the straightaway and gunned Drag-Strip’s engine, then drifted right again and crossed the finish first. This went on for the next two laps. Soon, we finished in 1st! The thief, 3rd place, slammed his hand on the wheel, Drive was in second and handled his place more gracefully, and Batman was dead last. The Dark Knight brooded about it.

“What kind of crazy turning was that?!” asked Drag-Strip.

“Drifting,” I explained. “I intentionally oversteered, making you lose traction in your rear wheels, but still maintained control over you. That’s what I meant when I said to know when to slam on the brakes.” Drag-Strip hmmed to himself.

“We went through four tracks with the thief,” he revealed. “A couple more times, then I’ll see how well I drift on the track after that.

“Another track?!” protested Batman as the track changed. “Give me a break here!” I took the wheel again and we waited for the countdown. This one had a lot more turns.

“3! 2! 1! GO!” called the announcer. We took off. I limited my drifting as there were too many turns, but we got 1st again as we dodged puddles and oil patches. We waited for the track to change again. It was short with shortcuts and a wiggly path. I got my hands off the wheel as I leaned back.

“Aren’t you gonna drive?” asked Drag-Strip.

“Call this a mid-term test,” I replied. “I want to see how you drive with a passenger.”

“…All right,” he muttered. The race began again, and we took off. On the first lap, Drag-Strip didn’t use the shortcuts. “That was more trouble than it was worth,” he explained. He took them on the second lap and finished in first without shortcuts. The track changed and I got out. I put my hair flower and veil back on.

“Now, it’s all you,” I called. “Good luck.” Drag-Strip was ready.

“We’ve got to win that token soon,” muttered Hiroki.

“Hush,” I hissed. “Drag-Strip’s got it.”

“3! 2! 1! GO!” called the announcer. The track had an over pass after a turn. Drag-Strip went with normal steering while Batman and the thief tried to drift. That’s a mistake. Drive was right on Drag-Strip’s bumper. Drag-Strip kept his head and drifted right to avoid a puddle. He dodged a tornado as Drive spun out. He went under the overpass and turned onto the parallel track. He then turned left and went down another parallel to the finish line. This went on until the end of the race.


We cheered Drag-Strip’s victory. “WOO!” cheered Wyldstyle. “Nice driving!”

“Those other cars didn’t stand a chance!” called Batman.

“Shall we claim our prize, teach?” asked Drag-Strip to Livia.

“Now THAT’S how you win,” replied Livia. We headed to the winner’s circle when Wyldstyle noticed something.

“Why isn’t the thief’s car here?” she asked.

“Sore loser,” I guessed.

“Are you sure?” asked Hiroki as he pointed somewhere. “Look over there.”

“It’s the thief!” called Sonic as the thief rounded a bend.

“What is he doing?!” yelped Gandalf. He was driving right for us! He drove up the Batmobile and jumped out of the car, grabbing the token!

“NO!” called Mario as a portal opened behind the thief. Batman fired his grapple gun, but it came up short as the thief went through the portal!

“Oh, COME ON!” snarled Batman. We all went into the portal and ended up on some sort of black background as if there was no up. We were still 2-D and surrounded by enemies.

“Oh brother, we’re in Robotron: 2084,” gulped Livia. “A 2-D shoot ‘em up where the player must fight robots that rebelled against humanity.

“So, what do we do?” asked Gandalf.

“This!” hissed Batman as he got ready. We got ready to fight. “I’m tired of chasing! No more Mister Nice Bat!” declared the Dark Knight. We fought off the hordes and got ready for the next wave. The enemies then included one we saw before.

“Cybermen active!” called the enemies.

“Cybermen?!” yelped Hiroki.

“Bad guys?” guessed Emu.

“Yes, now fight!” I replied. We took care of that wave.

“If this is a game,” mused Parado, “it seems like something is going wrong.” The third wave had more enemies, Lex-bots, Orcs, …Winkies?!

“Wait a minute!!” I yelped. “I don’t understand! We freed you guys!”

“You robbed us of our power!” roared a Winkie as his halberd swung at me. I decked him and he faded into pixels. The last wave had the thief! We all made our assault and he fell in half while dropping the token. Suddenly, I felt myself balloon outward. I looked myself…SWEET 3-D BODY, HOW I MISSED YOU! We were all 3-D again and I could see that Emu, Parado, and Poppy were of Japanese descent. I picked myself up and headed for the token, when a large purple hand swiped it up. I looked up to see Drag-Strip smirking.

“Er, what are you doing?” I asked. “We won the games and can share the trophy!”

“I suppose I must thank you, fleshlings,” chuckled Drag-Strip as I heard large footsteps. That’s when more Transformers stomped into view. One of them looked like a grey Optimus with a square-like helmet. The second was a red bot with a purple visor and face guard in a dour expression. He looked like he transformed into a sports car and was busy polishing himself. The third was white and blue with a panicked expression on his orange face. The fourth was black and had a crazed expression. “There you are!” said Drag-Strip. He went from last to first. “Wildrider! Breakdown! Dead End! And, last, but not least, Motormaster! I finally figured it out!”

“What?” snarled Motormaster.

“What Menasor’s problem is,” explained Drag-Strip. “We aren’t utilizing our strengths when we form him. Motormaster obviously has superior strength, so needs to be Menasor’s torso. Wildrider can hit fast and Menasor is right-handed. Dead End can defend well and Menasor uses his left hand to defend himself. Breakdown can catch up to me in terms of speed and is an excellent left kicker, perfect for Menasor. I can provide the speed needed to run as Menasor’s right leg.”

“You think this combo will work?” snarled Motormaster.

“Beyond the shadow of a doubt,” assured Drag-Strip.

“Then, let’s try it,” growled Motormaster. “Stunticons, form Menasor as Drag-Strip suggested.” They transformed into vehicle mode, then feet sprouted from Drag-Strip and Breakdown’s rears as they stood on those feet. Motormaster lowered his rear wheels and split them to form legs. His cab split and formed sockets. Wildrider and Dead End split down the separation between front and back seats and extended to become joints as hands came out of their rears. They flew up and joined in the order Drag-Strip suggested and a large head with a helmet sporting two black horns came up. The gestalt slammed its fists together and roared to the heavens. It then stood still, then started laughing.

“Well,” boomed the gestalt, “what do you know? There IS a benefit in teamwork.”

“Oh no,” I sighed. “You got complete mental control, don’t you, Menasor!?” I said. The gestalt robot grinned.

“The first Decepticon Combiner to achieve total mental synchronization!” he boasted. He turned to Livia. “I must thank you,” he laughed. “If it weren’t for you, my individual components would never have made it as far as they did! And, with the Foundation Element here in our grasp…”

“I should have known you were working for Vortech!” I shouted. “It’s so old, cliché even!”

“This is not a play,” interjected Menasor, “but, you could say it’s the final curtain for you!”

“CURTAIN!!” I howled in laughter. Menasor didn’t take too kindly to that.

“Stop laughing!” he roared. “Don’t you realize your lives are in my servos?!”

“SERVOS!!” I howled again.

“Megumi, I think he wants to kill us!” gulped Poppy.

“But, of all the villains I had to face,” I got out, “it had to be someone with clichés out the wazoo!”

“That’s it!” roared Menasor as he tossed a human-sized hand held device to the thief. The thief grabbed it and held it. It looked like it had a screen in the center, two barrels near a red A button and a chainsaw near a purple B button. The thief pressed the A button and evil music played.

“Baiyō!” (Cultivate!) announced the thief as he put the device on a handle on his right arm.

“INFECTION!” growled the device as he and his legs merged back together with his torso and became a more monstrous version of himself. “Let’s Game! Bad Game! Dead Game! WHAT’S YOUR NAME?! The Bugster!”

“The thief’s a Bugster?!” yelped Hiroki.

“Snatcher,” introduced the thief. “Level 3.”

“I am Menasor, the king of the road!” boomed Menasor.

“Well, if it’s catchphrases, let us get ready,” I declared. Parado and Emu got out their Gashats. Poppy got out a teal version of the device Snatcher used and put it on a buckle on her waist.

“Gachān!” said the device. Poppy then got out a pink Gashat and pressed the button.

“Toki Meki Crisis!” (Heart Beat Crisis) it announced in Poppy’s voice. That sounded like a dating sim.

“MIGHTY ACTION X!” called Emu’s Gashat.

“PERFECT PUZZLE! What’s the next stage?” announced Parado’s Gashat. Shinnosuke turned the ignition key on his speedometer style belt.

“Start your engine!” cheered the belt. Shinnosuke then inserted a small car with its rear undercarriage pointing up.

“Rider…” began Hongo.

“HENSHIN!” we called. I.d tags went in, Gashats were inserted, and Shinnosuke’s small car was pushed like a lever.

“GASHATTO!” announced the Gamer Driver before it was opened. “GACHĀN! LEVEL UP! Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty! MIGHTY ACTION X!”

“Dual up!” called Parado’s Gashat as it formed the suit. “Get the glory in the chain! PERFECT PUZZLE!”

“Gashatto!” cheered Poppy’s Gashat as she put it into the device at an angle. She then pressed a button above the B button.

“Buggle up!” declared the device. The Gashat spoke again.

“Dreaming Girl! (Wow!) Koi no Simulation! Otome wa itsumo Toki Meki Crisis! (Wow!)” (Dreaming girl! (Wow!) It’s a simulation of love! A girl’s heart is always a Heart Beat Crisis! (Wow!)) sang the Gashat as a suit formed. Poppy’s suit looked more like her normal appearance, but a heart replaced the speaker headpiece and she had blue eyes.

“DRIVE! TYPE: SPEED!” announced Drive’s Belt. A suit appeared out of thin air for Shinnosuke and formed while the tire slammed itself onto him.

“Kamen Rider Clash!” began Clash. “A duel with me shall end in your defeat!”

“Kamen Rider Sengoku! You shall get a taste of Feudal Japan!”

“Kamen Rider Royal! Evil will ultimately bow to me!”

“It’s-a me! Mario! How-a high can you-a jump? I can-a go higher!”

“I’m Sonic! Sonic the Hedgehog! Gotta go fast to beat me!”

“I’m Peach! I shall clear this battlefield!”

“Kamen Rider Para-DX! Fate is like a puzzle!”

“Kamen Rider Ex-Aid! No Continue de clear shite yaru ze!” (I’ll clear this with No Continues!)

“Kamen Rider Poppy! I shall guide you to defeat!”

“Kamen Rider Drive! Let me take you for a ride!”

“I am Gandalf the Grey! Prepare to see some fireworks!”

“I’m Wyldstyle! Time to think outside the box!”

“I’m Batman! The Dark Knight rises!”

“I am the start of a group of warriors! I am Kamen Rider!”

“No, you’re dead!” roared Menasor. He swung a fist down, but we got out of the way.

“What a lunatic!” I sighed. “Gamer Riders, take care of the Bugster! We’ll handle Menasor!”

“Got it!” called Ex-Aid. He then drew out another Gashat and blew into it like you would with an NES cartridge. He then pressed the activation button.

“GEKITOTSU ROBOTS!” (Clash Robots) it announced. The title screen showed up and a little robot came out. Ex-Aid closed his Gamer Driver.

“Gachon!” called the belt. Ex-Aid then put the new Gashat into a slot on his original Gashat’s left. “GASHATTO!” Ex-Aid then swung his fist in a circle.

“Dai, Dai, DAI HENSHIN!” he cheered as he opened the Driver.

“GACHĀN! LEVEL UP!” announced the Driver. “Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty! MIGHTY ACTION X!” The little robot then became new armor and gave Ex-Aid a large metal left fist. “A Gacha! Buttobase! Totsugeki! Gekitotsu Punch! Gekitotsu Robots!” (Punch it out! Duke it out! Impact Punch! Clash Robots!) Ex-Aid went on the offensive, but Snatcher dodged repeatedly.

“You can’t catch me!” he boasted. “I’m too fast for you!”

“Where are the Energy Items when you need them?!” moaned Ex-Aid.

“Found them!” called Poppy. The Energy Items were discs with different symbols on them. Ex-Aid took one with a running figure.

“SPEED UP!” announced a voice. Ex-Aid then started running at top speed and punched out Snatcher. He then took out the Gekitotsu Robots Gashat.

“GASHUN!” called the belt. Ex-Aid then put the Gashat into a slot on his left hip. “GASHATTO! KIMEWAZA!” (Finishing Move) There was a power-up noise loop as Ex-Aid pressed a button on the slot holder. “GEKITOTSU CRITICAL STRIKE!” Ex-Aid’s fist rocketed towards Snatcher and it hit him, then Ex-Aid slammed his regular fist into the robot fist. Snatcher sparked before exploding and fading into pixels. The Gamer Riders then joined us as we fought Menasor. Good thing too, we weren’t making a dent in him! Drive was knocked aside and landed near me.

“We gotta finish him quickly!” he called. “Or else, we’re gonna run out of gas!”

“I’m trying to come up with something!” I shouted. Sengoku then landed near us.

“Well, come up with something quicker!” he snapped. Peach was smacked out of the sky as she floated towards Menasor.

“That thing is resisting our Smash moves!” called Sonic. “We gotta try something!”

“Come on!” I snarled to myself. “What’s that creature running on?! Super Energon?!”

“What’s normal Energon?” asked Drive.

“The fuel for the Transformers,” I replied. “That’s what their civil war is all about.” I then realized something. “Some processes drain their internal Energon reserves at a quicker pace than usual, like combining.” Then, inspiration hit me, and a new attack beamed into my head.

“Are your brain cells in top gear?” asked Drive.

“Oh, they are!” I called. “Dai Super Charge!” I changed into my final form and gave everyone the excess energy I put out.

“What’s going on?” asked Batman.

“Everyone, get ready to jump high into the air!” I directed. I was met with confusion. “JUST DO IT!” I shouted. We all crouched low.

“Why are we doing this?” asked Clash.

“Menasor’s combined form is taxing on the internal fuel reserves on his individual components,” I explained. “A concentrated attack will make him fall apart.”

“THAT IS…NOT TRUE!” roared Menasor.

“True enough to make you splutter like that!” declared Peach.

“JUMP!” I shouted. We then jumped straight up. “Now, KICK!” I directed. We went in for a flying kick! “RIDER VORTEX BUDDY KICK!” I announced as we hit Menasor. He sparked at his joints and fell apart into his individual Stunticons. They were panting at the loss of Energon.

“We gotta get out of here!” shrieked Breakdown. “They’re gonna kill us!”

“It would be a good idea to get out of here,” sighed Dead End. “What was the point of coming here anyways?”

“For once, I agree with you two,” rumbled Motormaster. “Stunticons, retreat!” They transformed, summoned a portal, and went through. The token, on the other hand, fell out of Drag-Strip. We heard victory music again as the thief returned in his bisected state.

“GAME CLEAR!” announced a voice. I then heard varying “GASHUN’s” all around as the Gamer Riders powered down.

“Nice Drive!” praised Drive’s belt as Drive took his car out of his brace and cancelled his transformation.

“That was a rush!” called Sengoku as he, Clash, and Ichigō cancelled their transformations. I stayed in my transformed state as Batman inched towards the token, glancing around to check for any interruptions. He snatched it up, then got ready for battle again, swinging his batarang around. All that went by was a pixelated tumbleweed.

“All right, let’s get out of this digital nightmare!” hissed Batman.

“I must admit,” mused Gandalf, “I quite liked that one with all the magical monsters. It reminded me of home.” I opened a rift for us and we all headed into it to go back to Vorton.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 48

We gathered in the Gateway room. X-PO was doing his Rider chance, but I could tell he wasn’t into it, despite the music going on. “And today’s riders are…” X-PO began. The hands spun and landed on… “Hiroki!”

“All right!” said Hiroki.

“…and Livia!” announced X-PO.

“Yes!” called Livia. They took their places.

“Away we go!” I declared. “For Rusty!”

“FOR RUSTY!” everyone said. We charged into the portal and traveled to a lunar landscape with a base and…what the? The whole place was pixilated! We were in 8-bit! Gandalf’s mouth moved, but random noise came out. A text box appeared beneath him.

“What is this place?” read the text box. Wyldstyle tried to speak but was met with the same noise. Another text box appeared.

“And what happened to your voice?” read the new text box. I made the same noise as I moved my mouth and another text box appeared.

“Er, guys,” it read, “I think the noise is us speaking and the text boxes are translating for us.”

“What kind of place would do this?” read a text box for Hiroki’s noise.

“I don’t know,” replied Batman’s text box.

“DUCK!” called Wyldstyle. A green saucer nearly swiped us! Something shot it and Gandalf cast a shield to defend us from the…pixels.  A pair of green tripods with yellow centers and eyes flew above us, but something shot them. Once the shooting stopped, Gandalf lowered his shield. Wyldstyle picked up one of the pixels from the saucer.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” I muttered. “It’s almost like…like we’re in a video game.” The pixel faded.

“…That is the single most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” rasped Batman. Wyldstyle then felt a buzz in her pocket. She pulled out her scanner and used it on a bronze pixel floating above the base that hadn’t faded.

“I’ll tell you what I DO know, though,” she called. “THAT’S the Foundation Element!” Another saucer grabbed it.

“So, how do we get it?” asked Batman.

“Well,” muttered Hiroki, “if this IS a video game, then we play!”

“I know what game we’re in!!” cheered Livia. “This is Defender! It’s a horizontally scrolling shoot ‘em up where you control a fighter ship and defend this world from waves of invading aliens while saving astronauts!” We then heard a banging on the door from the base behind us. We turned to see a young man in a doctor’s uniform banging on the door. He had some fancy stethoscope hanging from his neck. Hiroki’s eyes went wide.

“Hōjō Emu!” he yelped.

“Let me guess, another Rider?” I asked.

“He’s the title Rider of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid!” explained Hiroki. “We gotta get him out!”

“There’s a vent here,” observed Hongo. “Scale Keystone, activate! Lessen Scale of Hiroki!” Hiroki crawled into the vent and ended up on the other side. “Normalize Scale of Hiroki!” said Hongo. Hiroki pressed a button and released himself and Emu.

“Thank you, everyone!” called Emu’s text box. “I was busy with hospital work one minute, then a blue hole opened beneath me and I was trapped here! Thank goodness I still have my Gamer Driver.”

“We need to help other people to get that pixel down,” I told Emu. “Will you help?”

“Of course!” replied Emu. We headed to the right and found some poor guy surrounded by fire.

“Elemental Keystone, activate!” announced Gandalf. “Element of water, Hongo!” Hongo was surrounded in a blue aura and doused the fire. The person was…oh, good grief! It was a fat, short guy with a black moustache and red clothing with blue overalls! His hat was red and had a white circle with a red ‘M’ on the front. Emu goggled.

“Jumpman?!” he called. “I think there’s a Gashat based on the original game he was in!”

“Jumpman?” asked the man we rescued. “Haven’t-a been called-a that in a while.” Livia twitched.

“I forgot how cringy your accent is!” she gulped.

“I’ll-a have you know I’m a real Italian!” snapped the man. Livia and the man argued in agitated Italian.

“If you please!” I protested.

“You said you weren’t called Jumpman in a while,” interjected Batman. “What’s your name?” We all goggled at Batman.

“You never played the Super Mario series when you were a kid?” I yelped.

“Oh, yeah,” remembered Emu. “You changed your name a while ago. Mario, is it?”

“It’s-a me, Mario!” said Nintendo’s mascot.

“What are you doing in Defender?” asked Hiroki.

“I-a don’t know,” muttered Mario. “One minute, I was-a having a picnic with-a Peach. Then, we get-a sucked in here!”

“Peach is here too?!” I called.

“Is this-a Bowser’s plan?” asked Mario.

“No, someone above him,” I answered.

“Not another god-a-like being!” moaned Mario.

“HEY!” shouted a voice. It was coming from another base. “Get away from me!” said another video game mascot. It was a blue creature with red sneakers, white gloves, green, connected eyes, and a black nose.

“SONIC!” called Mario. “Hold on! I’ll-a save you!”

“Allow me!” offered Gandalf. He used his magic to make the attacking creature explode. The pixels vanished.

“Hey, thanks!” called Sonic the Hedgehog.

“Sonic, what are you-a doing here?!” asked Mario.

“Mario! Hey, buddy!” greeted Sonic. “I was just stomping Eggman, as usual, and then a portal opened beneath me. I don’t know what Egg-breath’s up to, but…”

“This isn’t Eggman’s doing,” I answered.

“Help me!” called another voice. It was a petite woman’s voice.

“Isn’t that Peach’s voice?” asked Sonic.

“There she is!” answered Mario as he pointed to the voice’s source. A blonde woman in a pink dress was trapped by machinery.

“Mario!” called the woman. “Help me!”

“I-a got you!” replied Mario as he leapt onto the machine. The attack didn’t do much good.

“Let me do it!” called Emu. “I’ll change Princess Peach’s fate with my own hands!” He then brought out a pink trinket, a Gashat, like Dr. Kagami used. He pressed the activation button.

“MIGHTY ACTION X!” shouted the Gashat. The game’s start screen appeared as blocks looking like chocolate squares came in.

“Henshin!” announced Emu as he put the Gashat into the Gamer Driver.

“GASHATTO!” called the Driver. “Let’s game! Meccha Game! Mucha Game! What’s your name?! I’m a Kamen Rider!” Emu became Ex-Aid and…BWA HA HA HA! Irina was right! Level 1 Gamer Riders look absurd. While Brave had a knight’s theme going, Ex-Aid had spiky, pink hair and a clear visor! Ex-Aid jumped up on the blocks and then on the machine but met with the same results as Mario.

“Okay,” he muttered, “that might have been a bout of clinical insanity.”

“I’ve got an idea,” I called. “Locate Keystone, activate! Initiate Rift detection!” I found it a few feet from the machine. “Identify source of rift!” The information beamed into my head. “Locate help from 8-4-C-K-T-0-T-H-3-F-U-T-U-R-3!” Just then, the DeLorean flew through the rift!

“Great Scott!” shouted the driver. The Time Machine smashed through the machine and freed Peach. It then vanished.

“I thought…the Flux…” I muttered.

“The one Vortech has was from the Time Train, remember?” reminded Hiroki.

“Oh, right, right,” I said.

“Thank you!” said Peach.

“HELP!” yelled a man. An alien was carrying him. He had wavy hair, pixel style pants, and a jacket.

“PARADO!” called Ex-Aid. “Dai Henshin!” He then opened his Gamer Driver.

“GACHĀN! LEVEL UP!” announced the belt. He jumped into the air, kicked, then his armor flew off and his level 1 head became a backpack. “Mighty jump! Mighty kick! Mighty! MIGHTY ACTION X!” Wow, his suit was pink! He still had the health bar on his chest as he leapt up to get Parado. The alien kept him out of reach. I then saw a seedling.

“Gandalf!” I called.

“Elemental Keystone, activate!” announced Gandalf. “Element of earth, Emu!”

“Ex-Aid!” corrected Ex-Aid. He was surrounded in a green aura. “What am I supposed to do with this?!”

“Point your hands at the seedling!” I instructed. Ex-Aid did so. He made a giant hand grow and flick the alien away. It dropped Parado as Ex-Aid caught him. Parado looked up. He then gave an impish grin.

“My hero!” he joked. He then kissed Ex-Aid.

“Oh, YUCK!” protested Ex-Aid as he dropped Parado. “Must you?!”

“Well, must you drop me, Emu?” laughed Parado as he picked himself up. He then saw us. “Who are you?”

“Your enemies, that’s who!” declared Hiroki. “Henshin!” He then rushed at Parado, who dodged and gave another grin.

“My turn,” he chuckled. He drew out what looked like two Gashats pressed together with a yellow dial on the front and different labels for games on them. He turned the dial to the left so one label was down.

“PERFECT PUZZLE!” announced the strange Gashat. It then gave weird techno music as it looped on “What’s the next stage?”

“Henshin!” called Parado. He pressed a button on the Gashat.

“Dual up!” it announced. An image of a suit popped up. The suit was pixelated black and white. The armor had a gold chest piece with puzzle pieces in the center, blue shoulder pads, and a blue helmet with a gold turtleneck attachment around the neck. “Get the glory in the chain! PERFECT PUZZLE!” The image went over Parado and he was IN the suit. He put the Gashat into a holder on his right hip.

“Kamen Rider Para-DX,” (pronounced like paradox) introduced Parado. “Level 50!” He then charged at Sengoku. Sengoku raised his katana and swung but missed. “Missed me!” taunted Para-DX.

“I won’t this time, Bugster!” declared Sengoku.

“Yameru!” (Stop!) called Ex-Aid. He then summoned a large hammer with an A and B button.

“GASHACON BREAKER!” announced the weapon. Ex-Aid pressed the B button. “Ja Kīn!” (sound effect for sword being drawn) called the weapon as a pink sword blade folded out and stopped Sengoku’s katana.

“Ex-Aid, the Americans have a saying for people like you,” hissed Sengoku. “Want to know what it is?”

“What is it?” asked Ex-Aid.

“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR GOURD?!” shouted Sengoku. “That’s Para-DX! A Bugster! Your enemy!”

“Not anymore!” argued Ex-Aid. Sengoku’s sword stopped moving against Ex-Aid’s.

“What?” asked Sengoku.

“We beat Kamen Rider Cronus,” explained Ex-Aid as he relaxed his weapon. “Parado started to regret causing humans to suffer game disease and so joined CR. For a while, after we made a Gamedeus vaccine, he used it on himself as well as Poppy. Together, we beat Cronus! There’s still a need for us, but the game disease outbreak is taken care of.” Sengoku’s eyes went wide.

“Are you telling me…” he gulped.

“Yep, there’s a new Rider carrying on the fight,” confirmed Ex-Aid. “I think he’s called Build.” Sengoku twitched.

“………KAMEN RIDER EX-AID’S OVER AND I MISSED IT?! NNNOOOOOO!” Sengoku screamed a scream only fans could reach.

“So, you’re our friend?” I asked Para-DX.

“If you want to call us that,” he said as he cancelled his transformation. Ex-Aid and Sengoku did the same.

“Why don’t we start over?” I suggested. “I’m Queen Megumi Hishikawa of the Vortex Riders. The one who tried to carve out Parado’s flesh is my brother, Prince Hiroki, a major Kamen Rider fanboy.”

“Hello,” he mumbled.

“This is Lady Livia Acqua, a fan of retro games like this one,” I continued.

“Hello!” she said pleasantly.

“This is Batman, the World’s Greatest Detective,” I went on.

“Hi,” grunted Batman.

“This is Gandalf of the Istari,” I introduced.

“Greetings!” called Gandalf.

“This is Wyldstyle, the Master Builder,” I went on.

“Hi!” greeted Wyldstyle.

“This is Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega’s mascot,” I continued.

“Yo! What’s up!” called Sonic.

“This is Mario, Nintendo’s Mascot,” I went on.

“It’s-a me! Mario!” cheered Mario

“This is Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom,” I continued.

“Good day!” called Peach.

“And, this is Takeshi Hongo, the first Kamen Rider,” I finished.

“Hello, young Emu,” greeted Hongo.

“I’m Hōjō Emu, Kamen Rider Ex-Aid and Genius Gamer M,” introduced Emu.

“And I’m Parado, the one that helps Emu as Genius Gamer M,” continued Parado. All of a sudden, we heard victory music!

“GAME CLEAR!” announced a voice. We then looked up to see an image of a number 5 covered by a checkmark! But, the saucer still had the pixel!

“I’m done playing!” snapped Batman as he got a batarang ready. He then tossed it at the saucer, a mistake, in hindsight. The saucer fired on us as Gandalf cast a shield. It kept hammering us with laser fire!

“I…can’t…keep this…up!” strained Gandalf. All of a sudden, a rocket came by and fired on the saucer.

“That’s the rocket the player controls!” called Livia.

“We really ARE in Defender!” cheered Ex-Aid.

“You’ve played this game?” I asked.

“I’ve played a lot of games,” replied Ex-Aid. The rocket then turned the saucer into pixels. The bronze pixel floated down.

“Game over,” rasped Batman. We went to get the pixel, but a portal opened and deposited a person in blue thief robes.

“Who’s that?” asked Gandalf. The person then took the pixel and laughed!

“HEY!” shouted Wyldstyle. We followed him into another portal. We ended up in a labyrinth with items littering the place. Our sprites looked like 16-bit ones.

“This is new,” mused Peach. She then saw someone! The thief!

“You there! Stop, thief!” called Gandalf. The thief just laughed.

“You can’t catch me!” boasted the thief. He ran off!

“You wanna bet?!” snapped Batman.

“Friends can join in any time!” called a voice. Livia’s eyes went wide.

“We’re in Gauntlet!” she realized. “No wonder the thief looked so familiar! I thought he only stole potions.”

Gauntlet?” asked Emu. “The hack-and-slash fantasy game? I never got the chance to play it!”

“Well, now we’re in it,” mused Sonic.

“Let’s-a go!” called Mario.

“Mario! Hold on!” warned Livia. Mario stopped and turned. “Gauntlet has enemies out the wazoo. We need to be ready.” Hongo then got into his pose as we got our i.d tags out.

“Rider…” began Hongo. I then heard “MIGHTY ACTION X!” and “PERFECT PUZZLE! What’s the next stage?”

“HENSHIN!” we all called.

“GASHATTO!” announced Emu’s Gashat. He then opened the Gamer Driver. “GACHĀN! LEVEL UP! Mighty jump! Mighty kick! Mighty! MIGHTY ACTION X!”

“Dual up!” called Parado’s Gashat. “Get the glory in the chain! PERFECT PUZZLE!” We got ready for a fight and charged. I heard spin dashes and saw Sonic running circles around the enemies.

“Hey! HEY! Slow it down-a, Sonic!” protested Mario.

“No way, squeaky!” joked Sonic. “This is how the professionals do it!”

“SQUEAKY?!” snapped Mario as he jumped on a goblin and got a key. “It’s-a my trademark voice! Something you don’t have, given that your-a voice actors changed over the years! That’s-a why I’m always the one saving Peach!”

“It’s also the reason why you don’t talk in any of your games!” argued Sonic.

“Hm, pretty strong words, coming from-a the pincushion with a psycho fangirl and the angriest fanbase!” mused Mario.

“Well, it beats being a falsetto squawking midget!” laughed Sonic.

“OH YEAH?!” snapped Mario as he grabbed Sonic and headbutted him.

“Dude, Smash moves?! Really?!” protested Sonic.

“Can we do this later?!” snapped Ex-Aid as he smacked enemies aside. We made it to the exit, but a portal opened and we were in another labyrinth. We fought our way through it and collected keys. Gandalf found an exit sign. I then got an idea.

“Guys, we can use this to get to the thief!” I called. We used the exit, went through another labyrinth and used that exit to arrive near the thief! He took off, but we cornered him. Then…another rift opened beneath us. …This is gonna take some getting used to.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 47

I made my displeasure clear to Zod. I slammed him to the ground, threw him into the wall, and tossed him across the room. “YOU UTTER FAILURE!” I roared. “I thought having a Kryptonian would give me an edge, but you’re an utter failure! You allowed mere humans to best you! And you didn’t raise a finger to take the Foundation Element from Batman!”

“My Lord, this is but a temporary setback!” yelped Zod.

“That put us back by two years!” I roared. “Luthor! Continue punishing him, I grow fatigued.” Lex Luthor put on a pair of gloves with Kryptonite knuckles and dished out more pain onto Zod. I headed to my quarters and heard somebody being strangled. I put my ear to the door and heard Igura.

“You promised me that the Foundation Element would confirm the lead you had obtained and that it would be an easy heist, and what is the result?!” she snarled. “A lost Foundation Element! A lead lost! A Tarlaxian freed! And Megumi stronger and with more allies!”

“One thing…” choked out her hapless victim, Metalran, if my guess on the voice is right, “…you fail to realize…is that…!”

“ENOUGH PRATTLE!” screeched Igura as I heard her toss Metalran into a wall. “If I am to find Hiro’s soul, it will have to be through other means! I must deal with this matter myself!” She exited the room and ran into me. “Lord Vortech!” she gasped. “I didn’t…how much have you heard?”

“Enough,” I replied. “So, it was Metalran that gave you the tip that Hiro’s soul was back in your universe.”

“Even if that were true,” she muttered, “the trail is cold. If he was there, he’s long gone. I must continue the search through other means. Excuse me.” She left to search again.

“Good luck,” I bid.


“Another Foundation Element!” cheered X-PO as we returned. “Nice work! You guys have exceeded my expectations!”

“Yeah, that’s kind of my thing,” rasped Batman.

“I can’t believe you guys entered the Ghostbusters universe!” muttered Mr. Saunders. “The GOOD one!”

“For the last time, the 2016 one wasn’t bad!” protested Mrs. Saunders.

“Not this again!” wailed Emily.

“Let’s not do that garbage, okay?” pleaded Richard. “That’s as stupid as the Star Wars vs. Star Trek debate.”

“So, what do you want to do next?” asked X-PO. “Maybe kick back? Have a cappuccino? See what’s on the DVR?”

“What we want to do next,” interjected Gandalf, “is rescue our compatriots and save the entire multiverse!”

“Wow, this guy’s more literal than I am,” muttered X-PO, “and I’m a robot! Okay, the next Foundation Element is located within a trans-reality pocket dimension.”

“What does that mean?” asked Batman. Chell then signed what X-PO meant.

“It means,” translated Tanisha, “it will be…weird.”

“Sure,” murmured Wyldstyle. “That’ll make a change. You see who I’ve been hanging out with? Weird’s not a problem for me.”

“You want weird?” countered Elphaba. “You should see Mr. Saunders’ nonsense!”

“It’s not nonsense!” protested Mr. Saunders. “Wait here, I need to show you guys something!” He disappeared.

“Mama, should I be frightened?” asked Emily.

“This IS your father we’re talking about,” gulped Mrs. Saunders. We waited a good ten minutes before Mr. Saunders came back. Oh, lord, I wish he didn’t! He was wearing a full-face mask with red compound eyes and wings behind them. The outfit consisted of his old army gear and an absurd American Flag design on the belt buckle!

“I am…KAMEN RIDER FRED! I have new socks!” announced Mr. Saunders. Cue the crickets. “Uh…guys?”

“What the hell are you dressed up as?!” yelped Richard.

“I’m Kamen Rider Fred!” replied Mr. Saunders.

“…I think I forgot to…brain…without a…something!” stammered Turretorg.

“My life is NOT gonna burn bright,” moaned Takeru. “It’s gonna fizzle out with a whimper of pain from what I’m seeing right now.”

“My eyes!” wailed Hongo.

“Daddy,” cried Emily, “you make me want to punch a bunny!”

“Not mine!” I protested.

“But, with my new powers of American Awesomeness,” continued Mr. Saunders, “I will fight crime, protect the innocent, work for world peace, and…!”

“FRED, YOU TAKE THAT STUPID COSTUME OFF RIGHT NOW,” roared Mrs. Saunders, “OR, I SWEAR TO GOD, I WILL TASE YOU IN YOUR JUNK!”

“Oh, come on!” protested Mr. Saunders. “I have a mask and belt and everything!”

“CHANGE! NOW!” everyone roared. Mr. Saunders slumped and walked off in a somber tone.

“Now that THAT’S burned into my skull,” I muttered. “Takeru, I believe this is goodbye.”

“Bye, everyone!” bid Takeru. “Oh, before I forget, do you guys know these?” “These” were studs.

“That’s 150,000,” counted Vortoranii. “2,154,000 studs in total.” Emily then slapped her forehead.

“I forgot to add our 358,000 studs from our excursion to Jurassic World!” she wailed.

“Come on!” I cried.

“Sorry!” replied Emily.

“Now we’re at 2,512,000 studs!” muttered Vortoranii. “This is absurd!”

“Are studs valuable?” asked Takeru.

“They were when the Vortonians existed,” replied X-PO. “I would stick to your currency though. Studs probably aren’t legal tender in your universe. Speaking of, your ride’s here.” A rift opened for him.

“Goodbye!” called Takeru. He went through. Hiroki then released his breath.

“Something you want to share with us?” I asked.

“I didn’t want to say this in front of Takeru,” explained Hiroki, “but I didn’t like the TV show based on his adventures.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because there was so much wasted potential!” ranted Hiroki. “On top of that, Takeru’s allies were trying too hard to be funny! I just…felt disappointed. He’s the second Rider that disappointed me.”

“Who’s the first?” asked Okaa-san.

“With all due respect, ZX (pronounce Zecross),” answered Hiroki. “Again, they didn’t expand on the story enough! The whole movie he starred in could have easily been an entire TV series!”

“I suppose so,” conceded Okaa-san.

“So, how does a PKE meter work?” I asked, changing the subject.

“When it’s on,” explains Richard as he turned it on, “these arms rise up and start flashing to indicate that there’s some form of psychokinetic activity. It functions as a ghost radar. Once it finds something, it beeps at a certain pace until it finds or loses something. If it loses something, the arms go lower, the flashing slows down, and the beeping goes at a slower rate. Gaining something is indicated by the opposite actions.” Then, it happened. The arms raised and started flashing.

“…Seriously?!” gulped Wyldstyle.

“Suits on,” I recommended.

“Rider…” began Hongo.

“Henshin!” we announced.

“I heard a Henshin!” called Mr. Saunders as he came back in his usual clothes. He saw us. “What’s going on?”

“We’ve got a ghost, Daddy,” said Touché. Mr. Saunders then dropped the lovable idiot act and assumed his army colonel persona.

“What’s our move here?” he requested.

“We find this thing,” I replied. “Richard, take point.”

“On it,” he confirmed. He led us around the room and stopped when the arms went higher and flashed more rapidly at the West Door. He scanned down the hall both ways. We followed him to his right. We went down it until we stopped at an armory.

“Better have those that can use weapons to grab them,” suggested Arch.

“Agreed,” I replied. “Those that can fight, grab a weapon.” The fighters did so as we left. The PKE meter went nuts as we faced the end of the hall. There was a transmat at the other end and the robot that killed Heather was at the other end, fiddling with it. The fighters then returned. “Stay close!” I whispered. “No one move yet!” The robot carried out its work. It then put down the tools it was using and hovered back a bit to admire its handiwork. “ATTACK!” I ordered. The robot turned and saw us. It pulled a gun on us and fired. We fired back. “Try not to damage its head!” I called.

“What about it damaging ours?!” protested Mr. Babineaux. The robot then engaged the transmat and vanished in blue light.

“Kämpfer!” I ordered. “Find out where he went!”

“Hey, what’s going on down there?” asked Max’s voice over the comms. “Something beamed onto the Executor and…” static then drowned out Max’s transmission.

“Max?” I tried. “Mr. Tennyson!”

“That robot must have severed communications somehow,” guessed Sengoku.

“Maybe with Team 10,” I argued, “but Vader’s up there as well.” I opened a communications channel with Vader. “Lord Vader, have you gotten eyes on a stowaway on your ship?” I was greeted with static. “Vader? Darth Vader! ANAKIN!”

“Er, doesn’t go by that name,” reminded Claw.

“What’s going on here?” asked an old voice. We all tried to locate the voice’s source. “Down here!” it called. I looked down to see some sort of tiny, grey, humanoid, frog-like creature with big eyes and dressed in green robes. It had some sort of grey extensions on its head and liver spots.

“Azmuth!” called Touché.

“You know him?” I asked.

“He’s the guy who created the Omnitrix,” answered Guard. “Also, the smartest being, in his words, in three (possibly five) galaxies.”

“Even people from other universes can remember it?” croaked Azmuth. “Why can’t Ben?”

“What are you doing here on Vorton?” I asked. “How did you get here?”

“Some lady calling herself a doctor dragged me into her impossible box and brought me here,” replied Azmuth. “She said she knew why I lost contact with my Omnitrix and where my Ultimatrix rig vanished.”

“THE Doctor,” I corrected. “She’s THE Doctor, a Gallifreyan, a Time-Lord, er, Lady, er…whatever.”

“In any case, she’s onboard a warship called the Executor,” continued Azmuth. “Trying to take care of the communications breakdown, no doubt.”

“We need to get up there!” I declared. “There’s a killer robot on the loose!”

“So, get us up there!” insisted Climb. I was confused by her question, then remembered.

“Dai Super Charge!” I announced. My armor bulked, then the bulk flew off as I made a rift beneath us. We ended up on the Executor’s bridge, with Vader trying to speak to the Doctor. She was wearing a lighter coat and pants with suspenders over a black shirt with a rainbow across her front. She was using her tool-kit as well as a new Sonic Screwdriver at some sort of console.

“Madam, it would be wise to…!” protested Vader.

“I’ll take it from here, Lord Vader,” I announced. Vader and the Doctor looked up to see me.

“How did you get on board?” asked the Doctor.

“Easy when you’re Vortex,” I replied. “Did you find any intruder?”

“Yes, that robot from Jurassic World,” answered the Doctor. “The one you talked about.”

“So, he DID end up here,” I mused. “He’s making our newest Foundation Element go haywire.” Guard held up the PKE meter. It was beeping again, but steadily.

“That way,” remarked Guard.

“Lead on,” I directed. Vader, some stormtroopers, and the Doctor joined us. We headed down the corridors for a bit until the blast doors closed.

“Open the blast doors! OPEN THE BLAST DOORS!” ordered a Stormtrooper as a trio of them tried to get the door open.

“Er, guys,” called Ben’s voice over the comms, “what’s going on?”

“Ghost possessing a robot,” I replied. “Can Gwen find out where it’s going?”

“Sadly, no,” answered Gwen. “If it’s a ghost, there’s no mana to track.”

“It’s possessing a robot?” asked Max. “We should be able to track via the electric charge it uses to move. Ben, can you use Grey Matter to find him?”

“Easy enough for the little guy with the mega brain,” boasted Ben. I heard a sound that indicated the Omnitrix was changing Ben. “UPGRADE!” shouted Ben’s normal voice in a robotic undertone. “Oh, COME ON!”

“Ben, what did I say about banging on my Omnitrix?” snapped Azmuth.

“Azmuth?!” called Upgrade. “I didn’t push down on the core THAT hard! Anyways, I can work with this. There’s a computer terminal here.” Ben went silent for a while, then spoke again. “He’s trying to gain access to Engineering,” reported Upgrade. “Uh oh, he found me! He’s…typing a message. He can’t speak, so he wants me to read his message aloud. He can hear us.”

“Let’s hear it,” I directed.

“And, I quote, ‘Relinquish access to Engineering or I detonate this ship like an atom bomb!’” relayed Upgrade.

“I don’t respond well to threats,” hissed Vader.

“‘Your intimidation factor does not work on me, Sith Lord,’” replied Upgrade. “Er…that’s the…”

“I know who spoke, thank you,” dismissed Vader. “Intruder, I can cause undue pain to your body from here. Cease your operations at once.”

“‘Considering that I currently have the body of PO-Lambda 2279,’” relayed Upgrade, “‘I see no reason to be afraid.’”

“‘PO-Lambda?’” I asked. X-PO then came in.

“I heard the whole thing on the way here,” he answered. “So, the ghost has PO-Lambda?”

“What does the name mean?” I asked.

“Well, what do the letters in my name stand for?” asked X-PO.

“Experimental Portal Opera…that thing’s another you?!” I realized.

“A Lambda class Portal Operator Robot,” confirmed X-PO. “A more advanced version of me. 2278 was the last of the class sold before Vorton went the way it is. 2279 was finished in terms of physical build, but never got on the shelves because the A.I wasn’t ready yet.”

“You say that as if your type of robot was meant to be sold as if it were a TV set,” I mused.

“No, sold like TV antennas,” corrected X-PO. “The Gateways were the TV sets. The Vortonians simply viewed other universes for entertainment and only interfered when authorized to do so.”

“But, an entire species…” I muttered.

“It’s more like a contract between PO Robot and Owner,” replied X-PO. “We PO Robots have to go through an extensive interview process as well as our potential owners. There has to be compatibility between the two, otherwise, there’s no real respect.”

“So, it’s not slavery to you?” I quizzed.

“Not really,” replied X-PO. “I mean, yes, there ARE wackos who would use a PO Robot for evil gains, Vortech is a prime example, but, for the most part, we’re good judges of character.”

“I see,” I muttered.

“You’re not worried about abusing my abilities, are you?” asked X-PO.

“…That worry extends to everyone,” I murmured. Everyone stared.

“I will admit,” answered Claw, “I did NOT expect that from calm, collected Megumi Hishikawa.”

“Sorry,” I replied, “it’s just that I know what being taken advantage of looks like and I worry about that. I’m the daughter of a creature that did that.”

“Now, stop that!” snapped Okaa-san. “I don’t want to hear you use that kind of talk. You are NOT that monster.”

“Okaa-san’s right,” agreed Sengoku. “If you did take advantage of anyone, the F.N.S wouldn’t be here.”

“You helped us when we needed it,” reminded Guard. “That’s why we said you should be Queen. We know, deep down, you’ll be there for us. And, rest assured, we’ll be there for you.”

“I don’t normally make friends,” rasped Batman, “but the F.N.S has helped me in more ways than you could imagine.”

“This whole adventure, hell-raising though it is,” assured Ichigō, “is exciting. I wouldn’t get anywhere without you.”

“Thanks, everyone,” I answered, smiling under my helmet. Then, the ship lurched! “Ben, what on Earth was that?!” I called.

“The intruder went past the firewalls I set up!” answered Upgrade. The blast doors then opened to reveal Team 10. There was a black computer terminal with green circuit lines and the Omnitrix symbol.

“Can you get the Doctor, Rusty, and Kämpfer to engineering?” I asked. “They may need to fix whatever damage the intruder caused.” A mound of the colors that currently make up the terminal with a green circle rose up. The circle acted as the eye.

“It’s gonna be tricky, but I can manage,” replied Upgrade. “Rusty’s on the other end of the ship.”

“Rusty, this is Megumi,” I called over the Comms.

“Awaiting commands!” reported Rusty.

“Ben’s going to open a path to Engineering for you,” I explained. “Kämpfer and the Doctor will meet you there. You need to fix whatever damage the intruder caused.”

“I obey!” obliged Rusty.

“Let me go with them,” suggested Azmuth. “They need a genius.”

“Sure, like they need you going on about how you’re the smartest being in 12 galaxies,” snapped Upgrade as the eye changed shape to show irritation.

“Three, arguably five, galaxies,” corrected Touché. “Why is that so difficult for you to remember?!”

“Whatever,” dismissed Upgrade.

“Besides, the more geniuses, the merrier,” I continued. “Be careful, Azmuth.”

“Of course,” assured Azmuth. The Doctor let Azmuth onto her shoulder and she and Kämpfer took off.

“Vader, Brigadier, Guard, Ben, with me. We’re gonna try and regain control of the ship from the bridge,” I directed.

“Not a good idea,” countered Upgrade as the black and green circuit color melted off, formed a puddle, and then a figure rose from the puddle made of the stuff, but had a green front with green underarms and black circuit lines. This was Upgrade in his original Galvanic Mechamorph state. The Omnitrix symbol was on his chest. “The intruder is on his way to the bridge,” reported Upgrade. “He’ll try and stop us.”

“Then you and Vader keep him off of me and Guard’s back,” I replied.

“He’s not on the main bridge,” reported Vader. “I can sense him going to the backup bridge. We need to get down there quickly.”

“I may have a way,” answered Upgrade. He slapped the Omnitrix symbol and changed shape in a green light. He looked like a stereotypical ghost with one eye on a track and chains on his neck and arms. “GHOSTFREAK!” he announced in a harsh whisper. “I was hoping for Big Chill, but this will do. Which deck?”

“Deck 2, 10 floors below,” answered Vader. Ghostfreak then got me, Vader, and Guard close together and phased us all through the floor. We went down 10 levels before arriving at the backup bridge.

“Okay, that was weird!” I shuddered The intruder then arrived and Ghostfreak and Vader started fighting it. The intruder pulled out his gun and fired while Vader tried to crush its armor with the Force. It didn’t go well as the intruder wiggled out of his grasp and fired on Vader’s control panel. He started having trouble breathing. I went to fix it while Ghostfreak charged at the intruder, intending to knock the ghost in the machine out. The intruder wasn’t having it as he dodged Ghostfreak numerous times.

“All right, this song and dance is making me very angry!” hissed Ghostfreak. “It just makes want to unleash my ever-growing…” he slapped the Omnitrix symbol as he changed into “rrrrrRRRAAAATTHHH!” he said. The robot then shot Rath’s wrestling shorts. They burned up as Rath ran around, slapping on the fire. It died and revealed his crotch. It was covered in fur, but Rath seemed to get madder. “You…you burned up my pants!” He then roared and slammed the robot onto the floor and punched it a lot. “LET ME TELL YA SOMETHIN’, GHOST POSSESSING A ROBOT! YOU CAN BURN ME! YOU CAN BURN MY HOUSE! YOU CAN BURN THE THINGS I STAND FOR! YOU CAN EVEN BURN MY FEELINGS, IF I HAD ANY! BUT NO ONE, AND I MEAN NO ONE, BURNS AN APPOPLEXIAN OF HIS HIGHLY ADVANCED SENSE OF SHAME!” He was about to slam both fists down when the intruder caught them and tossed him aside. “KARATE’S GOOD!” roared Rath. “RATH’S GONNA CALL YOU KARATE-BOT, KARATE BOT!” The ship lurched again and Rath crashed onto the intruder.

“Backup bridge to engineering, what’s going on?!” I called.

“There’s a radiation leak!” replied the Doctor’s voice. “One of the engine batteries ruptured! It’s contained, but we can’t get in to plug up the leak!”

“Vader, how bad is the radiation in the batteries?” I asked.

“It’s enough to kill anyone, even beings like me, in 10 minutes,” explained Vader.

“Oh boy,” I sighed. “Try to find another way to plug up the leak and filter out the radiation, Doctor. I’m still locked on trying to get the ship under control.”

“On it!” called the Doctor.

“Sir, now really,” snarled the Brigadier to the intruder. “Can’t we just get connected?” He extended a probe and jammed it into the PO Robot’s head. The intruder didn’t like that, so he sent electricity down the probe and shocked the Brigadier.

“Alistair!” I called.

“I’m fine,” assured the Brigadier, “though, I think my systems are damaged. We need more power, like, more power than Rath has!” Rath got an idea.

“LET ME TELL YA SOMETHIN’ SIR BRIGADIER ALISTAIR GORDON LETHBRIDGE-STEWART, FOUNDING CYBERMAN OF THE UNITED NEBULAR INTELLIGENCE TASK-FORCE, THAT’S A GREAT IDEA! THERE’S A TIME TO GO HERO, AND THERE’S A TIME TO GO ULTIMATE!” Rath turned the Ultimatrix rig key and slapped the Omnitrix symbol down. He got bigger, his fur went a darker shade of orange, he gained claws on each finger and another claw on each wrist, and his mane looked a lot like Wolverine from Marvel Comics. He had a vest that looked like it had green cat’s eyes and new pants. “ULTIMATE RATH!” he roared. He then looked himself over. “Cool! Wait, I’m keeping a level head? That’s all I ask for when I turn into Rath!”

“I guess Evolved Appoplexians get a cooler head in millions of years of worse case scenarios,” I mused.

“Nice!” cheered Ultimate Rath. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to kick a ghost in a robot’s rear!” Ultimate Rath then charged on all fours at the intruder. He leapt onto him and decked him. The intruder’s robot body sparked and went offline. “That was for Rath’s pants!” roared Ultimate Rath. The Omnitrix symbol then started flashing red. “And this is a perfect time to power down,” chuckled Ultimate Rath, “now that the threat is over.” The Omnitrix beeped and then Ultimate Rath shrunk down to Rath, then went back to Ben.

“Just so you know,” I criticized, “we were shaking like Jell-O when you fought as Ultimate Rath.”

“Sorry, I never used Ultimate Rath before,” answered Ben with a sheepish grin. The Comms then beeped.

“Go ahead,” I called.

“The leak has been sealed,” reported the Doctor.

“All right!” I cheered. “How did you guys do it?”

“We didn’t,” answered Azmuth. “Rusty did. Manually. In the infected zone.”

“…But…the radiation…” I stammered.

“Megumi, you need to get to Engineering, NOW!” called Kämpfer. A worst case scenario entered my mind.

“Guys, MOVE!” I shouted. We ran to Engineering. When we entered, there was a transparent wall with us on one side and Rusty on the other. The Brigadier and I rushed to the wall, but Lukas and the Doctor held us back.

“Get out of the way, Doctor!” demanded the Brigadier.

“You can’t go in!” argued the Doctor.

“But, the radiation! He’ll die!” cried the Brigadier.

“Brigadier! Sir! ALISTAIR!” snapped the Doctor. The Brigadier and I stopped struggling. “He’s already too far gone.” They released us, allowing us to walk over to the infected zone. Rusty wasn’t twitching as much. His dome swiveled slowly as the eye was getting dimmer. He then rotated his body slowly.

“Let…me…see…you…” he croaked. “The…real…you…” Rusty’s casing then opened, slowly. His real self was looking a sickly brown as his eye was opened slowly. I cancelled my transformation as the Brigadier opened his helmet. “Do…not…grieve,” said Rusty weakly. “I did…what was…needed.”

“Rusty, there was a plethora of droids!” I cried, tears coming down my face. “They didn’t have organic components!”

“They…did not…have…the needed…skill…” wheezed Rusty. One of his tentacles touched the glass. The Brigadier put his hand up to it. “Alistair…” he continued, “I…hope…this…banishes…any doubt…you held…about…me…”

“Any doubt I had was banished ages ago, old chap,” mumbled the Brigadier. “You’ve become more than a Dalek. You’ve become my friend.” There was a few seconds silence.

“I…am in…pain…” reported. Rusty. I moved to speak, but Rusty cut me off. “This…is fine. …I…will die…so you…may live. …But…before…I die…I’m glad…I met…you…”

“Rusty, we can help!” I wailed.

“No…you…cannot…” countered Rusty. “…I…die…for a good…cause. …The needs…of the many…outweigh…the needs…of the few…as Spock…would…put it. …Good…bye…my friends.” Rusty’s real eye closed, his true limbs drooped as well as his shell’s limbs, and his eyestalk stopped glowing once it went down. Rusty, the friendly Dalek…was dead.


The Brigadier retrieved Rusty’s last wish from a backup computer in his shell. Rusty wanted his real body to be taken out of the shell and fired into a star, to symbolize his rebirth from normal Dalek soldier to our friend. When the radiation levels were acceptable, we got Rusty out and decontaminated his body. We preserved him for a while so we could set up his funeral. It took place in the Gateway room and we all wore dark clothing. Batman had gotten out of his Bat suit and put on normal funeral clothes, putting on the persona of Bruce Wayne. He even dropped the raspy voice he uses as Batman. The Brigadier had his armor painted black. Someone knocked on my door. “Yes?” I asked, a little shaky as Okaa-san laced me up.

“Megumi, dear, it’s time,” whispered Death.

“On my way,” I mumbled. Okaa-san followed me, her hand on my shoulder to reassure me. Soon, we arrived. A track with a little coffin on our end and the controls behind the coffin rested. It was open casket, so we could see Rusty’s real self. Two of his tentacles were resting as a corpse’s hands would, clasped together, and his eye was closed. I took my place at the controls. Okaa-san was behind me as well as Hiroki. Hongo and Wyldstyle were on my left while Bruce and Gandalf were on my right. “Minna-san,” I began, “today, we gather to honor the death of a friend, Rusty the Dalek. Before an encounter with his people’s greatest enemy, the Doctor, Rusty’s ship was attacked and destroyed. He survived, but with damage. That damage allowed him to see a star being born and see what a beautiful thing life is. During an encounter with the Doctor, he joined the humans and made a name for himself. Over time, he became friends with Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. Then, both he and the newly-christened Brigadier joined us and became our allies, helping us when needed. He gave his life so we may continue the fight against Lord Vortech. I, for one, will fight in his name, as I know you all will. I must say, out of all the souls I met in the multiverse, his was the most…diverse.” I nodded to Mr. Saunders.

“Present…ARMS!” he barked. Everybody raised a weapon in salute. I then pressed a button on the controls and Rusty’s coffin moved. It went slowly to allow us to say goodbye. Soon, it left the rail from Vorton and floated to one of the stars, where his body was consumed to make new fuel for that star. Rusty was returned to cosmic shores.

“I will not say ‘do not weep’,” said Gandalf softly, “for not all tears are an evil.” As we departed, Emily and Okaa-san joined me in my quarters. We sat on my bed. At that point, I let myself cry uncontrollably. I was embraced by Emily and sobbed as she held my trembling frame. Okaa-san held us both. We all wept for Rusty. Emily then saw something and directed me to look on my dresser. Azmuth was standing there.

“I am…sorry you’re going through this,” he whispered. “From what you said, Rusty had evolved beyond the hatred that was bred into his species.” I sniffed before answering.

“Yes,” I mumbled. “Personally, I think he would have been a worthy host of the Omnitrix.”

“Very much so,” agreed Azmuth.

“Azmuth,” called Emily as she dried her eyes, “as long you’re here, I have a question.”

“Go ahead,” replied Azmuth.

“Ben had the Omnitrix taken from him when he was in Jurassic World,” recalled Emily. “After it got itself off the thief, I was its new host for a while. When I had it, I couldn’t access my belt’s powers or suit. Could the Omnitrix have blocked that somehow?”

“I’m not sure,” answered Azmuth. “The Omnitrix never did that before. I’ll look into it when I get back.”

“Okay,” I mumbled. Azmuth departed.

“Do you need anything?” asked Emily.

“I just need to be alone for a bit,” I whimpered.

“Okay,” sighed Emily. She and Okaa-san left as I laid on the bed. For the first time, I felt my own mortality, and the mortality of my friends. I laid still for a while.

“…Rusty,” sang a woman’s voice.

“AUGH!” I screamed in surprise as I tumbled off my bed.

“AUGH!” screamed the woman.

“AUGH!” I screamed as I picked myself up.

“AUGH!” screamed the woman.

“AUGH!” I screamed.

“AUGH!” screamed the woman.

“…AUGH!” I screamed.

“AUGH!” screamed the woman. “WHY ARE WE SCREAMING ‘AUGH’ OVER AND OVER?!”

“DOCTOR, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” I shouted.

“Rusty never got a good tribute song!” replied the Doctor.

“Get the hell out of my room and let me grieve in peace!” I snarled, the anger I thought I had gotten over was coming back.

“Rusty needs a song!” protested the Doctor. “He needs to be immortalized somehow!”

“I heard screaming!” whispered a voice. It was Death.

“I was screaming at the Doctor,” I replied. “Doctor, if I let you sing a tribute to Rusty, will you let me be?!”

“Of course,” assured the Doctor. I sat down, and the Doctor sang to the tune of Amazing Grace.

Rusty, Rusty,

How great was he,

That saved people

Like thee?

I never thought,

I would find heart,

But, a heart, I see,

In Rusty!

The Doctor finished. “Wasn’t that lovely?” she asked. I just glared at her. “My work is done.” The Doctor entered the TARDIS and departed.

“I should go, as well,” whispered Death.

“Death, wait,” I called.

“Hm?” hummed Death.

“I know that you and the Apocalypse Riders will see him,” I began, “but, do you think we mortals will see him again?”

“He IS dead,” whispered Death, “and no one can cure it, so…”

“But, is there hope?” I asked.

“There never was,” whispered Death, “just a fool’s hope.”

“…I guess,” I sighed.

“I’ll let you be,” whispered Death. “We shall meet again, before the end.”

“…Bye…” I mumbled. Death left and I got ready for bed. We had already had dinner, so I just brushed my teeth, put on my nightgown, and got into bed. “…Goodbye, Rusty,” I mumbled. “Thank you.”

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 46

When we entered Ghostbusters HQ, a particularly ugly ghost took out the stairs. “We should try the basement,” figured Gandalf. “That is a potential source of the ghosts.”

“Change that from potential source to actual source,” corrected Emmanuel as ghosts came up from the basement.

“Great, the stairs going down there are blocked,” I hissed.

“Allow me,” called Wyldstyle. She built a laser cutter and cut a hole into the floor. “Away we go!” she cheered. We jumped into the basement and found the containment unit.

“The undead seem to be flowing from this red tomb,” mused Gandalf. “It is ruptured, perhaps it could be sealed.”

“I see a chroma disc,” I called. It was the blue one and an elderly ghost was floating at a bookshelf near the stairs her spectral kin were flying up towards. She had no legs and wore an old librarian’s dress, her hair in a stern bun.

“Her again?” whispered Arch.

“The old Librarian?” asked Seeker.

“Who is it?” I quizzed.

“That’s the first ghost we see in the first movie,” replied Seeker. “This was way before Winston joined.”

“So, what do we do?” I whispered.

“We have to succeed where Peter and the others failed,” answered Arch, “and make contact.”

“You’re right,” muttered Batman. “Someone needs to speak with her.” We then turned to Wyldstyle.

“…NO!” she whispered harshly. “I refuse!”

“But this may get you over your fear!” I countered.

“There’s a realm called the Haunted Forest where I’m from,” argued Wyldstyle. “Whenever I go there, something happens that makes me change my underpants!”

“Well, maybe this is the one that won’t do so,” I guessed. “Go on, maybe you’ll get a new name!” Wyldstyle looked at us, then sighed.

“Just so you know,” she hissed, “if I do have to change my underpants, you owe me fresh ones.” She got up and got to talking distance. “Hello!” she called. “I’m Wyldstyle.” The Librarian didn’t respond. “Where were you from, originally?” The Librarian shushed her! Wyldstyle slowly closed her eyes. “Does…anyone else have a bright idea?” she asked.

“I have one,” whispered Ghost. “Stay close, everyone. This needs timing!” He got low as if he were about to pounce. “Ready? 3! 2! 1! GET HER!”

“NO!” shouted Seeker. Too late. The Librarian morphed into a scary version and roared. We all screamed as she flew around the bookshelf and set it on fire before joining the other ghosts. As we recovered, I started laughing.

“Get her?!” I then snapped as I slammed my fist onto Ghost’s head. “That was your brilliant idea?!”

“Give me a break!” protested Ghost as he massaged his head. “I punched ghosts in my day. I didn’t talk to them!”

“Well, you better put that fire out!” I snapped.

“That was the ghost’s fault!” argued Ghost.

“But YOU provoked her!” I countered.

“I can supply Ghost with the tools needed,” called Gandalf. “Elemental Keystone, activate! Element of water, Ghost!” Ghost was surrounded in a blue aura. He formed a water stream in his hands. While he put out the fire, Ichigō led me to a vent system that I could fix as a giant.

“Scale Keystone, activate!” he announced. “Enlarge scale of Royal!” I then put my right fist into the air while putting my left fist at my hip. I then grew. I patched up the vent. “Lessen scale of Royal!” said Hongo. I shrunk and crawled into the vent. I tried climbing, but to no avail.

“Dang it!” I hissed. “If only I could crawl like Spider-Man!” Then, I realized I was still in my Ghostfreak armor. “…Megumi, you can be an utter idiot sometimes,” I said. I flew to the end of the vent to find a bunch of wires and circuitry. “Well, as long as I have the i.d tag,” I mused. I then activated the icon ring and selected another form.

“Ben 10 Grey Matter Steel!” announced Vortoranii. My suit changed to have a grey helmet and green armor.

“GREY MATTER!!” I shouted. The natural intelligence of the Galvan species then flowed into my head. “So, we just connect this wire here to stabilize the Isolated Ecto-grid, swap out that circuit with this one to bypass the redundant Spectrum Differentializers, and link the new circuit with this wire to expose the Spectragrasmic generators to a small 1.2 ectojam dose of Ectoplasm.” I heard a DING. “And I did whatever I did!” I cheered. I popped out of the vent.

“Normalize scale of Royal,” announced Ichigō. “You just exposed a chroma lock design above the leak. Ghost just put out the fire and Gandalf fixed the yellow chroma disc with a dancing toaster with slime in it.”

“Sounds as weird as what I did in there,” I replied as I swapped out Ben’s i.d tag for my own. “Before you ask, no, I no longer remember what I did, I couldn’t begin to tell you how I did it.”

“All that’s left is the red disc,” mused Ghost.

“I see it in that box,” replied Batman, “but the way to open it is closed.”

“Not while I’m here,” boasted Gandalf. “Elemental Keystone, activate! Element of Earth, Batman!” Batman was surrounded in a green aura and pointed his hand to the ground near the advanced box opener. A large vine then opened the area and we pushed the box into it. The box opened, and the disc came out. Wyldstyle got a good look at the Chroma lock design I revealed to her. Yellow left L shape, red circle, and blue right L shape.

“Chroma Keystone, activate!” announced Wyldstyle. “Chroma lock, reveal!” The lock design appeared on the floor. “Chroma! Red! Ichigō! Chroma! Yellow! Batman! Chroma! Blue! Ghost!” The three people got themselves painted and they jumped into their respective places. The Chroma lock activated tech that activated some sort of vacuum cleaner for ghosts and was preparing a secondary wall.

“That did it!” reported Batman. “The ghosts are clearing out. Whatever this thing is, it certainly is impressive technology.”

“That’s not yours to take,” I teased. “Now, let’s head back upstairs. We need to fix the way to the roof.” We headed upstairs and were greeted to Sludgiona looking around the place. She clapped eyes on us.

“Ah, the killer is here,” she remarked.

“Hiro committed suicide!” I protested. “He went with a rather messy way, instead of seppuku.”

“He’s no samurai,” countered Ichigō. “And I doubt anyone would want to watch or help him die quickly.”

“Fair point,” I conceded. “In any case, our business does not concern you, Sludgiona. Leave in peace.”

“Not a chance!” burbled Sludgiona. She then grabbed me and I felt myself getting weaker and weaker by the second.

“What’s…happening…to…?” I gasped before she flung me aside.

“The sludge that makes up my body drains a person of mana, their life energy,” revealed Sludgiona. “Any hit that is given to me, I simply take a bit of mana to heal myself.” She then started slugging my friends. True to her word, she absorbed some mana from Arch, Xiomara, Ichigō, Batman, Wyldstyle, and Gandalf. She then decked Ghost hard, then knelt down with her hand above his head. “Don’t worry, I promise I will be quick.” She then placed her hand on Ghost’s head, then something crackled and she was flung back from energy discharge. She splattered against the wall and dripped down to the floor. When she reformed, she was confused. “Anti-Mana discharge?” she yelped. “HOW?!” Ghost started chuckling.

“You said that mana is life energy, right?” he asked.

“Yes, and a living being is saturated in the stuff!” answered Sludgiona.

“Not when you have a Ghost Driver on your waist,” remarked Ghost.

“That does not negate the fact that you’re alive!” gurgled Sludgiona. “The only way you could generate a discharge like that is if you have no mana to absorb! That only happens when I touch a ghost!”

“Why do you think I’m called Kamen Rider Ghost?” asked Ghost. “My Ghost Driver allows me to be a ghost, even though I’m alive! When I’m in my Rider form, I have no mana to absorb! And now, I can easily beat you!” Sludgiona’s hand hovered over my head.

“Move one single muscle against me,” she warned, “and I reduce her to a shriveled husk!”

“Not an effective threat,” I remarked as I knocked her aside. I then ran up to Ghost and touched him, gaining his i.d tag. I inserted it and selected his base form.

“Ghost Steel!” announced Vortoranii.

“KAIGAN! ORE!” called the Ghost Driver’s voice. “Let’s go! Kakugo! Go, Go, Go, Ghost! Go! Go! Go! Go!” My armor changed to look like Ghost. Sludgiona scoffed.

“You’re alive!” she bubbled “A simple makeover won’t save you!” She punched but got a discharge. “NOT YOU TOO!” she screamed.

“Now, the REAL test is if my Ectonurite armor will protect me too,” I remarked as I went through the whole sequence of selecting Ghostfreak.

“Ben 10 Ghostfreak Steel!” announced Vortoranii.

“GHOSTFREAK!” I shouted. When I finished, Sludgiona punched me again and got the discharge again. “I knew it!” I cheered. “Say, Sludgiona, have you heard of this saying? ‘Possession is nine tenths of the law!’” I then phased into her body and controlled her movements. “YAHOO!” I said through her mouth. “MEGUMI IS AWESOME!” I then used her arms to slap her face. “Stop hitting yourself! Dude, stop hitting yourself! Why are you hitting yourself?!” I then made her dance. “Loo dee doo, I’m dancing!” I sang. “Because I’m Sludgiona, the mana vampire! Hey, my slave chip is making me work for Lord Vortech! It’s really uncomfortable! Kick it off of me!” Ghost volunteered to do that. He pulled the lever and pushed it.

“DAI KAIGAN!” (Eyes wide open!) announced the Ghost Driver. “ORE OMEGA DRIVE!”

“Inochi, moyasu ze!” (My life is burning bright!) declared Ghost as he leapt into the air with an orange eye glyph behind him. He then stuck his feet out and flew towards Sludgiona. I got out and Ghost kicked the slave chip off. Sludgiona then collapsed into a puddle of sludge after spasming uncontrollably.

“And that, as they say, is that,” I sighed happily.

“MEGUMI, YOU UTTER DUNCE!” roared Vortoranii.

“Excuse me?!” I hissed.

“Destroying her slave chip was the thing the list said NOT to do!!” elaborated Vortoranii.

“What?!” I asked.

“Sludgiona had implanted that chip so she can survive going to other universes,” explained Vortoranii. “She has a rare condition called Acclimation Syndrome. For some reason, some universes are so different in their physical laws that some people may die or be assimilated into that universe. Once you do, it’s a lot harder to get back to your own unless you have some sort of anchor.”

“And that slave chip was her anchor?” I realized.

“Originally, it was a declamation chip, but Vortech heavily modified it,” replied Vortoranii. “It was the only thing keeping her from dying or being trapped in one universe or on Vorton. The physical laws on Vorton are adaptive to each individual life-form, so you CAN’T die or be acclimated. And making an anchor is hard to do, even in your home universe.”

“And, by destroying the chip,” gulped Ghost as he realized our mistake, “we just ensured she can never go home.”

“What have we done?” I murmured. “I gotta do something, apologize or help her!”

“Oh, yeah, I’m SURE she’d accept an apology or help from you!” snarked Vortoranii.

“Well, I have to do something!” I protested. “I…” Ghostbusters HQ’s shaking interrupted my train of thought.

“Table that for later,” suggested Batman. “We need to get to the roof!”

“I better take care of this,” I muttered. “Locate Keystone, activate! Initiate rift detection!” I found it near the stairs. “Identify source of rift!” The info beamed into my head. “Locate help from T-H-3-L-3-G-0-M-0-V-1-3!” I called. Some weird bunk bed style couch came up in place of the stairs.

“Emmet’s Double-Decker Couch?” muttered Wyldstyle. “I didn’t know he kept it.”

“It’s one of his creations,” I recalled.

“Fair point,” conceded Wyldstyle. We got onto the top couch and headed to the top floor, finding another set of stairs leading to the roof. Zod had fixed the ship and it was hovering above the ground. We got into a fighting stance as we saw that a Kamen Rider based on the rhino beetle was on the ground.

“JŌ!” called Ichigō.

“Shigeru Jō?” I asked.

“You know him?” quizzed Ichigō.

“Death talked about him during my reception,” I explained “So, that’s Kamen Rider Stronger.”

“I’m amazed you know him,” rasped a voice. “But, it takes an inferior being to know one.” A humanoid creature came out of the shadows. It had large, metal, red, three-fingered claws and a grey triangular head.

“Metalran!” snarled Vortoranii.

“He’s…not showing up on the list,” I observed.

“He’s a renegade,” replied Vortoranii. “He’s joined Vortech to accelerate his plans to conquer the multiverse.”

“Oh, dear, another evil maniac,” I sighed.

“Evil?” hissed Metalran. “Maniac? No, VISIONARY! I am so much more than the others. I am SUPERIOR! The Tarlaxians are content with a provisionary Empire with a puppet like Scorpainia on the throne. They bow and scrape to lesser beings like you to get new technology and reverse-engineer what they begged like dogs for! But, we DID create the Vortex Driver and its subsequent upgraded versions, my sister, Sludgiona, specifically. Yet, she’s still content with bowing to the puppet, bending and upgrading others technology!” He then grabbed the cannon on Zod’s ship. He started glowing as smaller versions of the cannon sprouted from his forearms and shoulders. “I, on the other hand, do not upgrade other’s technology! It upgrades ME! And I will upgrade myself with my sister’s greatest creation!” He pointed to my belt.

“I can’t begin to tell you how that’s NOT gonna happen!” I declared. “Super Charge!” My armor bulked up and changed color. “Dai Super Charge!” I announced.

“Electro KICK!” called a voice. Stronger then flew in, kicking Metalran and making him dizzy. Metalran shook his head to clear it.

“What the?” he quizzed.

“The heavens call… The earth cries out… The crowds roar… All calling on me to strike back against evil,” announced the attacker. “Now listen up, villains! I am the warrior of justice, Kamen Rider Stronger!” Stronger was ready to fight!

“Kamen Rider Arch!” Arch continued. “My skills outdo Robin Hood!”

“Kamen Rider Seeker! It’s not gold I seek, but your end!”

“Kamen Rider Vortex! Evil will ultimately bow to me!”

“I am Gandalf the Grey! Prepare to see some fireworks!”

“I’m Wyldstyle! Time to think outside the box!”

“I’m Batman! The Dark Knight rises!”

“Kamen Rider Ghost! Inochi, moyasu ze!”

“I am the start of a group of warriors! I am Kamen Rider!”

“An impressive performance,” laughed Zod, “for such insignificant forms of life. However, you find yourselves between me and a glorious new Krypton. So, I’m afraid that your particular species is about to become extinct!”

“An evil Superman, great,” muttered Wyldstyle. “What else could go wrong?”

“Must you?!” I protested.

“His ship has laser cannons,” reminded Batman.

“Yeah, thanks!” snarked Wyldstyle.

“Kneel before Zod!” roared Zod. He then got into his ship and activated the guns.

“Zod’s laser is open to attack while it charges!” called Batman as he pointed out a weak point.

“On it!” I replied. Well, I WAS on it until some sort of sludge hit me from the side and pinned me to the wall. Ghost ran after Metalran and swapped his Eyecon for a yellow one.

“EYE!” announced the Ghost Driver. “Batchiriminā! Batchiriminā!” He pulled the lever and pushed it as a new white parka with yellow trim came out. “KAIGAN! EDISON!” The parka Ghost was wearing vanished while the new parka landed on him and changed the face plate to a yellow lightbulb with twin electric stems. “Ereki! Hirameki! Hatsumei-ō!” (Electricity! Ideas! Invention king!) Ghost then summoned a large sword and took half the blade off, reversed it, tilted the handle down, and put the blade bit back, turning it into a gun. While that was going on, the sludge formed Sludgiona’s head, and a rather angry one at that.

“I can’t go home, thanks to you!” she roared. “I can’t see my queen! My friends! My husband and wife!”

“Sludgiona!” I gulped. “I know about your condition! I made a mistake down there! A ghastly, horrible mistake, because I let my zeal to free your people get to me without considering the consequences. I’m sorry.”

“A bit late for sorry, now!” snarled Sludgiona.

“But, I have various resources to help you!” I assured. “I even have a science team with an intimate understanding of rift creation technology and Tarlaxian biology! Rusty, Emily, Lukas, Sir Alistair, Elphaba, and Chell, they all can help you!”

“A haywire Dalek,” began Metalran as he shoved Ghost aside while releasing his Ghost Driver and tossing a red Eyecon in the air, “a fat rose nerd, a quiet four eyes, a senile fool playing Cyborg soldier, a green-skinned witch, and a mute?!” He was crossing the line, insulting my friends. “Those people couldn’t make water if you stuck them in an over-iced freezer with a blow torch! Look, Dear Sister, we’ve had our differences, but you cured me of MY condition. I’m sure I can cure yours.”

“I can’t promise success, but we can at least get other scientists started on a cure for your condition,” I argued.

“I CAN promise success!” countered Metalran.

“How do I know either of you is actually looking out for me?!” burbled Sludgiona as Batman finally got past the ship and hit its weak spot. I then moved my hand through Sludgiona’s mass and cancelled my transformation. I then took off my belt and showed it to her.

“Take it back,” I offered. “Use your creation to free your people and cure you of your curse.” Sludgiona looked at me, then Metalran, then me, then she released me and got whatever stains were on my dress off. She handed my belt back.

“You can warp to your Vortex form,” she explained. “Just say the code you assigned. You fulfilled the power of the prophecy I was trying to obtain myself. You need it more than I do.” She turned to Metalran. “As I recall, you killed our parents. I see no reason to side with you!” Metalran got angry and made a warped version of the Ghost Driver appear at his waist. He opened it and inserted the Eyecon he was tossing. When he closed it, his belt spoke in a darker tone than Ghost’s.

“EYE! Batchiriminā! Batchiriminā!” He pulled and pushed his lever. “KAIGAN! MUSASHI!”

“Musashi?!” I gulped as I went back into Vortex.

“And this Musashi is…?” asked Arch.

“A rōnin that developed a duel-wield sword style,” explained Batman as he hit the weak spot again. “I studied from his works.”

“Rōnin is a samurai with no master,” I elaborated.

“Kettō! Zubatto! Chō kengō!” (Duel! Piercing! Super Swordsman!) sang Metalran’s knock-off Ghost Driver. Two versions of Ghost’s sword appeared in each hand.

“Any idiot who opposes me will be destroyed!” snarled Metalran. He started swinging the swords, albeit, not with the same skill as Miyamoto Musashi. Still, he held his own. Ghost got out of the way and let Sludgiona and I handle him. He held his multipurpose weapon to the Ghost Driver.

“DAI KAIGAN!” (Eyes wide open!) it announced. It then looped on “Gan Gan Minaa!” (Watch out!) He leveled his gun at the weak point. “OMEGA SHOOT!” He pulled the trigger and a large electrical shot hit the ship. It then crashed into a building as Zod flew out.

“My ship!” he roared. “Are you trying to provoke me?!” He surrounded himself with ghosts as he fired his heat vision. Metalran, meanwhile, was pushing me and Sludgiona back.

“He’s really strong!” I gulped.

“He’s not,” countered Sludgiona. “It’s the tech that’s doing that. He can only mimic, no original thoughts in his skull.” I then got an idea.

“Can you distract him for a while?” I asked.

“My pleasure,” obliged Sludgiona. She fired off several balls of her biomass, causing Metalran to swat them away, while I went to Batman and pointed out a grapple hook. Batman nodded as I changed i.d tags.

“Batman Steel!” whispered Vortoranii. We fired our grapple guns and released the Ghostbusters. They tumbled to the roof.

“You okay?” Ray asked Egon.

“I’m all right,” assured Egon. “Are you all right?”

“All right,” replied Peter. “You?”

“I’m all right, you?” gasped Winston. The process went on for a while until I broke it up.

“ALL RIGHT!” I shouted. “We’ve got ghosts surrounding that mook up there!”

“Let me handle him,” called Ghost as he got the Musashi Eyecon back. He went into his Ore form and spoke to Zod. “I am Tenkūji Takeru, Kamen Rider Ghost!” he announced. “I order you to leave this part of reality and return to your own universe, or a nearby one, forthwith, and make an oath never to pester this universe again!” His tone was shaky.

“Nice, Ghost-san,” I muttered. “He’s really shaking now.”

“Are you a god?” asked Zod.

“…Well, no, but…” replied Ghost. Judging by the facepalming of the Ghostbusters, Seeker, and Arch, that was not something to say.

“Then, DIE, as you deserve to!” roared Zod as he fired his laser vision. We were tossed into the air and landed hard on the roof. As we picked ourselves up, Arch grabbed Ghost’s horn.

“Ghost, when someone asks you if you’re a god, you say YES!” snapped Arch.

“Throw it!” called Peter. The Ghostbuster fired on the ghosts and got them away from Zod. Zod punched the roof as he landed.

“Pathetic!” he boasted. “You puny humans cannot hope to stand in my way!” He then flew over a water pipe with a valve!

“Gandalf!” I called.

“The Elemental Keystone WOULD help out here, for sure,” replied Gandalf. “Elemental Keystone, activate! Element of lightning, Vortex!” I was surrounded in a cyan aura and headed to the pipe Zod was hovering over.

“You know, I’m willing to bet that there are certain laws you can’t help BUT to obey,” I quipped as I turned the valve, dousing him in water. “One such law must be the one about electricity!” I zapped the water, thus dousing him in electricity. He got away and recovered.

“Ouch,” he said, mockingly. He then allowed himself a short laugh. “Is that all you have?” He hovered over a gas pipe.

“Well, as Americans put it,” mused Arch, “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” He turned the valve and doused him in gasoline. “Gandalf, fire, if you please.”

“Element of fire, Arch!” announced Gandalf. Arch was surrounded in a red aura and unleashed flames on Zod.

“Fire?” laughed Zod. “You think fire, alone, can harm me?” He tore out the gas pipe and threw it onto the street. He then flew over a dirt patch.

“Okay, that’s MY profession,” called Seeker.

“Element of Earth, Seeker!” announced Gandalf. Seeker was surrounded in a green aura as she made a large Venus Fly Trap grab him.

“What do you think you are doing?!” snarled Zod. We Riders then jumped into the air while Ghost pulled and pushed his lever again.

“DAI KAIGAN! ORE, OMEGA DRIVE” called the belt. He then leapt into the air and kicked with us.

“RIDER KICK!”

“RIDER SEEKER KICK!”

“RIDER ARCH KICK!”

“ELECTRO KICK!” announced Stronger.

“RIDER VORTEX KICK!” We kicked the Fly Trap Zod was trapped in. He was tossed into his ship and surrounded by green crystals.

“Kryptonite,” observed Batman. He then strode to Zod as he lay weakened amongst the Kryptonite. “I’ll take that,” he said as he took the PKE meter. The Ghostbusters then threw their trap and sucked all the ghosts in. Metalran saw the entire thing.

“Blast, another failed excursion,” he hissed. He then sprouted wings and jet engines.

“Metalran, help me!” called Zod.

“You’re on your own,” dismissed Metalran as he opened a rift. He went through as Zod glared at Batman.

“One solitary Foundation Element won’t help you much when Lord Vortech comes for you!” he snarled. “You are as doomed as I.”

“We’ll see,” replied Batman. A rift opened beneath Zod while another one opened behind us.

“Good!” sighed Wyldstyle. “I have had ENOUGH of spooks!”

“They aren’t all bad,” mused Gandalf.

“I have grave doubts,” joked Wyldstyle. Gandalf chuckled.

“Nice one!” he said.

“I may develop those same doubts,” muttered Sludgiona. I remembered that she was trapped in this universe

“I wasn’t lying,” I assured her as we Riders cancelled our transformations. “With the resources we have, we’ll get you back to your people, help you survive the trip, and cure your condition.”

“And we can help as well, with our knowledge of other planes of existence,” supplied Peter. “Besides, we could use someone like you here. You’d like our pet ghost, Slimer.”

“Why would you help me?” asked Sludgiona. “I’ve caused nothing but trouble for you!”

“Because I don’t think of you as an enemy,” I answered. “I think of you as a friend. And, you don’t leave friends hanging, you help them.” I held out my hand for a handshake. She stared at my hand, then glared at me.

“I’m not ready to call you my friend,” she snarled. “I wouldn’t need your help if you didn’t destroy my declamation chip! However, I will need your help.” She then headed to the stairs. “I’ll be downstairs, cleaning up,” she told her current landlords, the Ghostbusters.

“Well, that’s pleasant,” snarked Peter. He then turned to us. “Are you guys also from another universe?” he asked.

“Yes,” I answered. “I’m Megumi Hishikawa, Queen of the Feudal Nerd Society.” Peter and I shook hands. “I apologize for dumping Sludgiona on you guys, but she has no place else to go. If she tried to go home now, she’ll die.”

“We’ll work on her condition here,” replied Egon. “And I’d like to ask some questions of Ghost here.”

“It’s just Takeru,” corrected Takeru. “And I’m afraid I need to get home.”

“As do I,” replied Jō. “Yuriko is worried about me. It’s clear that I’m not suited for this sort of thing.”

“Jō, you’re a Kamen Rider,” reminded Hongo. “As long as you live…”

“It’s that ‘live’ bit that I’m failing at,” interrupted Jō. “See this mark on my brow?” He pointed to a yellow ring on his head. “This is my halo. I’m dead.”

“…Dead?” asked Hongo.

“It was at the hands of a Black Satan remnant,” replied Jō. “They were about to blow up Tokyo. I made the explosive detonate too early and died in the process.”

“…Oh,” sighed Hongo, sadly.

“Don’t worry, I died as I lived, fighting evil wherever it was,” assured Jō. Hongo gave a sad smile.

“That’s the best death a Kamen Rider can ask for,” he remarked. He then embraced Jō. “I will miss you, old friend.”

“And I, you,” replied Jō. Black mist then came out of the shadows as the PKE meter in Batman’s hands spiked rapidly. The mist coalesced into Death. The Ghostbusters readied their packs, but Death raised a hand.

“I’ve never seen her before in Tobin’s Spirit Guide!” yelped Ray.

“This is Death,” answered Emmanuel. “Do not be alarmed, she is a friend.”

“You’re friends with the Grim Reaper?!” gulped Winston.

“And I know a lot about you, especially you, Winston Zeddemore,” whispered Death. “An Air Force Police Captain, before you joined the Ghostbusters.” His colleagues turned to him.

“Why would the Grim Reaper have an interest in you?” asked Egon. Winston sighed.

“I was in Vietnam, early in my career,” he explained. “I only told Janine that steady paycheck bit because I wanted to play it safe. I figured you had other crazies coming in for my position before me, claiming to see ghosts.”

“And you actually saw some when you were deployed?” asked Ray.

“Okay, let’s not go too much into it,” stopped Peter. “We can afford to believe him.”

“Thanks,” appreciated Winston.

“Now, Jō, dear, it’s time to go,” whispered Death.

“See you later,” called Jō to Hongo.

“Farewell, old friend,” replied Hongo. Jō faded with Death into the black mist and vanished.

“We better get going as well,” I sighed. “Farewell! We’ll look you up if we need some ghosts busted! Take care of Sludgiona!”

“See you around!” bid Peter as we went into the portal. “Keep in touch!”

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 45

After the coronation and Death’s recent news about Igura taking a weapon that could wipe us out, I decided it was time to grab another Foundation Element. Everyone gathered in the Gateway room. Batman, Hongo, Gandalf, Wyldstyle, and I took our places while the rest of the Vortex Riders gathered in a circle. The Rider Chance music played, scaring a few of our newcomers. Ben looked disturbed. “I am not sure this is a pleasant thing,” gulped Rook.

“We’re not entirely comfortable with this, either,” replied Lukas.

“And today’s riders are…” announced X-PO as the hands rotated. They stopped on “Xiomara!”

“Yes!” she cheered.

“And Emmanuel!” called X-PO.

“Très bon!” replied Emmanuel. They took their places on the Gateway Platform.

“Good luck!” wished Mr. Babineaux.

“Come back safe, Your Majesty!” called Michael. Everybody made their farewells.

“Everyone,” I said to my team once the farewells were completed, “CHARGE!” We went through the rift and arrived in 80’s era New York. There was chaos going on and strange lights in the sky. See-through people was terrorizing the citizens, in various states of decay.

“HEY!” protested Gandalf as he was slimed and robbed of his hat. “Accursed Pilfering Phantasm!” He zapped the creature, making it drop his hat.

“Ghosts?” asked Batman.

“G-g-ghosts?” stammered Wyldstyle.

“Surely, you’re not scared of a few specters?” chuckled Xiomara.

“I ain’t afraid of no ghosts,” replied Batman.

“The dead don’t rise from their graves without good reason,” mused Hongo. “We should find out what it is.”

“Agreed,” I affirmed.

“They look like they’re coming from over there,” observed Batman. I saw the building Batman was pointing to.

“Xiomara, Emmanuel, does that look familiar?” I asked. I pointed to a light up sign with a ghost trapped in the “NO” symbol. Their faces lit up.

“Ghostbusters HQ!” called Emmanuel.

“Come on!” cried Xiomara. We then heard something in the sky.

“Is that…screaming?” I muttered.

“Up there!” answered Emmanuel as he pointed upwards. “It looks like…A MAN AND AN ICE CREAM TRUCK FALLING OUT OF THE SKY!!”

“LOOK OUT!” warned the man. We got out of the way as the man landed on his back and the Ice Cream truck falling away from him. “My back!” he groaned. We went to help him up. Hongo’s eyes went wide when he saw the man’s face.

“Takeru?!” he yelped.

“You know him?” asked Batman.

“Tenkūji Takeru,” introduced Hongo, “Kamen Rider Ghost. He helped me fight Shocker and Shocker Nova.” Takeru then got over his pain and saw Hongo.

“Hongo-san!” cheered Takeru.

“Good to see you, Takeru!” replied Hongo. “What brings you here?”

“A fight with Igura,” answered Takeru.

“You met her again?!” yelped Hongo.

“This was back home,” elaborated Takeru. “I was enjoying a nice 20th birthday with my friends, and a celebration of coming back to life, when she attacked the temple. She started demanding a Hero Eyecon, but I wasn’t about to surrender them. I fought her off, then she made a blue vortex and threw me in there which got me here. Ever since then, I’ve been fighting these ghosts.”

“I don’t think that’s what she was talking about,” replied Hongo. “She may have been talking about an Eyecon with her lover’s soul, Hiro Adachi.”

“Never heard of him,” remarked Takeru.

“Former Shocker scientist, my biological father,” I explained. “I’m Megumi Hishikawa, Queen of the Feudal Nerd Society. This is Lady Xiomara.”

“Hola!” cheered Xiomara.

“Emmanuel,” I continued.

“Bonjour,” greeted Emmanuel.

“Batman,” I went on.

“And not the Shocker monster,” answered Batman.

“Wyldstyle,” I continued.

“Not a DJ,” clarified Wyldstyle.

“And Gandalf,” I finished.

“Pleasure to meet you,” greeted Gandalf.

“We’re heading to the source of all these ghosts,” I explained. “Want to tag along?”

“Sure!” replied Takeru.

“Let’s go!” I called. We walked a few blocks to see a green blob possess another Ice Cream truck and make it go across purple goo and fly away.

“Okay, there’s no way that goo is safe,” remarked Wyldstyle.

“Agreed,” I muttered. “We need to find a way over.” I then got an idea. “Takeru-san, do you still have ghostly powers?”

“Yes, my belt keeps them. Why?” asked Takeru.

“Because we can fly everybody over the goo,” I replied. I then drew out my i.d tag. “Henshin!” I announced. Takeru was surprised when he saw me suit up.

“A Kamen Rider?!” he yelped.

“Kamen Rider Royal,” I answered. “And I have more surprises. Time to test the new Ben 10 i.d tag.” I drew out said i.d tag and swapped mine with that one. Because of the aliens Ben turns into, the icons circled. “You know, I think we should blend in with the ghostly crowd,” I mused.

“Just pay attention to it,” advised Batman.

“I’ll be fine,” I assured. “Look.” I selected an icon. “Boom, armor based off of Ben’s Ectonurite form.”

“Ben 10 Jetray Steel!” announced Vortoranii.

“What?!” I yelped. The wardrobe closed on me and altered my armor. I gained yellow horns, a red color scheme, and had flight suit wings under my arms. The wardrobe vanished as I felt something seize my vocal cords. “JETRAY!” I called. I then sighed and glared at my belt. “I asked for Ghostfreak, not Jetray!” I complained “Are you seriously gonna act like the Omnitrix?!”

“Hey, you’re the one who turned her head when Batman talked!” snapped Vortoranii. “That’s your fault. Besides, you can fly now, so quit complaining!” I sighed again.

“Emmanuel, get on my back,” I directed. “Xiomara, Gandalf, I’ll have to pick you up by my feet. Hongo, Wyldstyle, Batman, you’re with Takeru.” Emmanuel got on my back and I took off into the air. When I landed on the other side, I heard something say “EYE!” I turned to see a black parka with orange trim and orange eyes dancing around Takeru. He was wearing a belt that looked like an eye covered in slime. It had an orange grip that he could pull and push. The belt was saying “Batchiriminā! Batchiriminā!” (Watch out!) He then made various hand signs before putting his right pointer and middle finger in front of his face.

“Henshin!” he announced. He pulled the handle, the pushed it back in. The eye closed, then opened again.

“KAIGAN! ORE!” (Eyes open! It’s me!) called the belt. A suit similar to those of Tron: Legacy formed as the parka landed on him and made an orange faceplate with black eyes and a single horn. “Let’s go! Kakugo! (Dead Set!) Go, Go, Go GHOST! Go! Go! Go! Go!” continued the belt. Takeru pulled the hood back and allowed Hongo onto his back. He then grabbed Wyldstyle and Batman’s wrists and took off, landing on my side of the goo.

“That’s your persona as Kamen Rider Ghost?” I muttered. “Looks like a Tron suit.”

Tron?” asked Ghost.

“I’ll explain later,” I replied. We went up a street to see four men in a tricked-out hearse. It had all sorts of gadgetry on the roof and was white with red trim. The men had some sort of technological backpacks with rifles connected by a tube to the backpack. The rifles were spitting out orange streams of light with blue streams of light circling the orange ones. The streams were ensnaring the ghosts. When they did so, they threw out metal boxes and opened them with a foot pedal.

“This concentration of spectral activity is too large for us to handle!” called one of the men, wearing glasses. “We need to return to base and recharge the packs!”

“Egon, I thought you said we’d be dead before the packs run out of juice!” remarked another man, going a little bald.

“Egon’s right!” supplied a portly man. “The PKE is actually messing up the packs’ half-life! We need to head to base so we can deal with the source of these ghosts!”

“Base IS the source of these ghosts!” reminded the final man, a black man with a moustache. “Remember?! Peck shut the containment unit down again!”

“Again?” sighed Emmanuel as we stayed out of sight. The recent ghost the men had snared started dragging them and their hearse along. They followed, screaming.

“…Well, that was weird,” I muttered

“Standard fare for those men,” replied Xiomara.

“Who were they?” I asked.

“The balding one is Peter Venkman, the de facto leader,” explained Emmanuel. “The black man is Winston Zeddemore, the mechanic. The man with the glasses is Egon Spengler, the brains of the group. The portly man is Ray Stanz, the handy man. Together, those men make up the Ghostbusters.”

“And this ‘Peck’ they mentioned?” I ventured

“Walter Peck, an EPA representative that harbors a distaste for the Ghostbusters,” replied Xiomara.

“And what did he shut down?” I asked.

“The containment unit for the ghosts the Ghostbusters catch,” explained Xiomara. We then heard a fire escape ladder come down, thanks to Gandalf.

“I believe a higher vantage point will help us,” remarked Gandalf.

“Good idea,” I said. We headed to the fire escape when some ghosts started causing trouble. They messed with the traffic lights and caused a 20-car pile-up at the intersection.

“Oh, these wicked spirits are fiendish!” hissed Gandalf.

“Get them out of there!” I shouted. We got the people out of the cars and checked them over. Surprisingly, they weren’t hurt.

“Now, how are we gonna get past that?!” asked Ghost as he cancelled his transformation.

“With the Chroma Keystone!” replied Wyldstyle. “Batman, the red disc is above us on the fire escape!”

“Got it!” said Batman. He fired his grapple gun at the ladder above us and yanked hard. It didn’t move. He yanked again, but nothing happened. “Er, Megumi, a little help?” he asked.

“Did he just…?” realized Wyldstyle.

“No!” said Batman, hurriedly.

“Stop the presses, I can see it now!” teased Emmanuel. “A headline in the Gotham Newspaper, ‘Batman Asks for Help!’”

“Quit teasing him!” I giggled as I swapped out the Ben 10 i.d tag for Batman’s.

“Batman Steel!” announced Vortoranii. My suit changed, and I fired a grapple gun. Together, we yanked the ladder down. When we made it to the top, we pushed the disc down. Wyldstyle leapt onto the roof of a nearby diner and got the yellow disc down to the street. All that was left was the blue one. We found it in the trunk of one of the cars in the pile-up.

“My turn!” called Wyldstyle.

“Not yet!” I stopped. “We need the Lock design!” My left arm started buzzing. “And I think I can get us that. Locate Keystone, activate! Initiate Rift detection!” I found the rift opening near a pile of goo. “Identify source of rift!” The info beamed into my head. “That one again?” I muttered. “Oh well. Locate help from W-1-Z-4-R-D-0-F-0-Z!” The Wizard of Oz’s podium appeared on top of the goo.

“Master build senses, tingling!” giggled Wyldstyle.

“Have at it!” I directed. Wyldstyle punched the podium, turning it into Lego bricks, and built a large speaker out of them. The ghosts nearby saw this and possessed it, making it move to the pile-up and turn around to make a Chroma Lock design appear. The left L was green, the circle was blue, and the right L was red.

“Now, my turn,” called Wyldstyle. “Chroma Keystone, activate! Chroma lock, reveal!” The lock design appeared. “Chroma! Red! Takeru! Chroma! Yellow! Emmanuel! Chroma! Blue! Batman!”

“What does she…?” began Takeru before I shoved him into the red paint. “HEY!” he snapped.

“It’ll evaporate soon,” I assured. Emmanuel and Batman went into their respective colors. Batman entered the circle, making blue, before heading to the left L. Emmanuel joined Batman and I led Takeru to the right L. The speaker attracted more ghosts before it started playing a snatch of a song.

Who’re you gonna call?

GHOSTBUSTERS!

The sound blew the pile-up out of the way before the speaker fell apart. We went on our way, avoiding streets with goo blocking the path, and went up one to see the Ghostbusters still being dragged along. The street was blocked by goo at the other end. “Looks like we’re flying,” I mused. I swapped out the current i.d tag for the Ben 10 one again. The alien icons scrolled by. “This time, I want Ghostfreak!” I selected his icon.

“Ben 10 Ghostfreak Steel!” announced Vortoranii.

“Thank you!” I remarked as the wardrobe closed on me. My armor changed into that of a stereotypical ghost with lines all over me. “GHOSTFREAK!” I said. I grabbed Batman, Hongo, and let Wyldstyle onto my back.

“EYE!” called Takeru’s belt. “Batchiriminā! Batchiriminā!”

“Henshin!” announced Takeru. He then pulled and pushed the lever.

“KAIGAN! ORE! Let’s go! Kakugo! Go, Go, Go, Ghost! Go! Go! Go! Go!” continued his belt. Ghost allowed Emmanuel onto his back and grabbed Xiomara and Gandalf. We went over the goo and turned right. We went down some more city blocks and flew over more goo. When we went to another intersection, the Statue of Liberty walked by. The Ghostbusters’ hearse dodged the feet. We followed the hearse to see a rift opening, allowing a dropship in police colors to fly into this universe. A billboard advertising the Ghostbusters fell on one advertising Stay Puft Marshmallows and they tumbled onto the street.

“These specters are truly restless,” muttered Gandalf. “And, rather bothersome!”

“I’ve got an idea,” called Batman. “I need to get onto the roof of that building.”

“I got you!” I replied. I flew Batman up to the rooftop to see a crane over the police dropship.

“Shift Keystone, activate!” announced Batman. “Yellow, on the same rooftop as me! Blue, on the crane! Magenta, above the dropship, same height as the crane arm! Shift! Megumi! Blue!” I arrived on the crane and found the controls. I used them to swing the crane arm over the dropship, under the magenta portal. “Shift! Gandalf! Magenta!” Gandalf appeared on the arm. He made the hook go down and latch onto the dropship. The pilot tried to get away but ended up making the dropship spin around the arm and smash the billboards, allowing us passage. We went to the alleys and arrived at Ghostbusters HQ to see a rift open up near the battered Ghostbusters. A small attack ship came out and a man with military style hair, black clothing, and a full beard flew out of the rift.

“Now, that’s what I call a Phantom Zone,” chuckled the man. He approached Egon, who waved some device over him.

“Ray, this looks extraordinarily bad!” reported Egon.

“The Foundation Element!” cheered the man. “Good!” He swiped the device from Egon’s hands.

“The PKE meter is a Foundation Element?!” gulped Xiomara.

“And PKE means…?” I asked.

“Psychokinetic Energy,” clarified Emmanuel. “The stuff ghosts are made of!”

“Your cooperation is noted,” boomed the man that stole the PKE meter. He then threw the Ghostbusters into his ship.

“Are you sure that’s needed?” burbled a voice. Sludgiona then popped up from the sewers.

“Without the Ghostbusters,” boasted the man, “the pitiful residents of this planet won’t stand a chance! New Krypton will rise from their ashes! All will kneel before Zod!” He flew up to his ship and Sludgiona headed into the Ghostbusters HQ, a firehouse refurbished.

“Krypton?” hissed Batman. “This is the one time I’d be happy to see Superman.”

“What’s General Zod doing, working for Vortech?!” asked Xiomara.

“Not so fast, Zod!” called Batman as he threw a batarang at one of the ship’s wings. It crashed onto the roof of Ghostbusters HQ. “We have to get that Foundation Element before they can escape!” declared Batman.

“Indeed!” replied Gandalf. “Although, I suspect we may encounter some otherworldly resistance!”

“Xiomara, Emmanuel, Hongo, suit up,” I directed. “We’re going in hot!”

“Understood!” replied Emmanuel.

“Rider…” began Hongo.

“Henshin!” called the three. They transformed, and we headed into the lion’s spectral den.